The Voice of People on Police Drug Diversion programmes in the UK

Founded in 2009. User Voice is a unique ex-offender led charity that brings lived experience to the heart of systemic change. We bring about transformation for individuals and institutions by empowering the most marginalised in society – so the system can work for everyone.

Over the last 15 years, we have given a voice to over 150,000 people in prison and on probation. This has led to tangible change in prison and probation settings that improves people’s lives.

The Police Drug Diversion (PDD) programme is designed to analyse the efficacy of diversion schemes for those found in possession of any controlled drug.

User Voice’s lived experienced peer researchers are involved in every aspect of the project from designing research materials to analysing data. The PDD project is a rare example of an academic project that has a meaningful and equal partnerships with people with lived experience.

The PDD programme is in collaboration with the University of Kent, Loughborough University, College of Policing, National Police Chief’s Council, and West Midlands Police.

The programme’s aims are to discover:

• What are the effects of PDD schemes on offending (as measured by reconviction)
• What are the effects of PDD schemes on health outcomes (measured using hospital data, and drug treatment entry and retention_
• What other effects do PDD schemes have (on wellbeing of individuals, families and communities)
• Are there inequalities in the use of PDD schemes (e.g, on grounds of ethnicity, gender, levelling-up)?
• What are the cost consequences of PDD schemes for health, police, and other service providers?

User Voice in collaboration with local partners engaged drug involved subjects to learn their experiences of PDD.

Service users were interviewed by a person with lived experience of the criminal justice system to gather their feedback.

User Voice would like to present at Lisbon Addictions 2024 to share the experiences of service users who have engaged in the PDD programme, share instances of best practice and where the service could improve.

We would be able to demonstrate data regarding the following project aims:

What are the effects of PDD schemes on offending (as measured by reconviction)

What other effects do PDD schemes have (on wellbeing of individuals, families and communities)

Are there inequalities in the use of PDD schemes (e.g, on grounds of ethnicity, gender, levelling-up)