UNDERSTANDING THE POLICY PROCESS
INTRODUCTION
Healthcare policies can be defined as essential tools that guide actions to achieve desired outcomes. The primary objective of these policies is to direct employees toward accomplishing the organization's goals. Health policies encompass plans, decisions, and actions required to achieve specific healthcare objectives within society.
This report focuses on Alcohol and Drugs Mental Health policies, particularly examining how alcohol use impacts an individual's mental health. The study will also emphasize selecting policies that address social issues, with a discussion on the general framing of these issues. The report will outline the objectives of these policies and the effective formulation process. Finally, the report will include a reflection on the policy framing and formulation process.
MAIN BODY
Choose policy addressing a social issues and name of policies, when it was launched and by who etc.
The chosen policy for this assignment is “Misuse of Drugs act 1971” that has mainly been formulated to address the common social issues that affects the Mental health of an individual. Thus, use of drug misuse has harmful effect on health that make an individual habitual on the drug dependence and this leads to be the part of the broad array of tough or harmful behaviour (Miranda, Snowden and Legha, 2020). The aim of misuse of drug act is to take the actions that helps to forbid the misuse of controlled drugs and this impose the complete ban over the ownership, economic process and creating from raw materials and export of controlled drugs except as allowed by the regulation and with licence from the secretary of state. Thus, excessive use of drug has bad impact on the health (Sleigh, Schneider and Vayena, 2020).
The chosen policy of UK as “Misuse of Drugs act 1971” was introduced by the Reginald Maudling. Therefore, the royal assent was taken on 27th may 1971. It is the act that has been established by the advisory council of the misuse of drugs and this aids to provide independent expert advice to the legal authorities on the operations of the act. Drug treatment can lead to have significant reduction levels of offences and this enhances the broader criminal justice that increasingly rise the forwarding source and venue for render the treatment of drug. This policy is designed is to protect the public from the dangers of drug and the use of other substances. Henceforth, this can be stated that the use of drugs and alcohol represent the significant challenges for mental health services and for those who was seeking treatment for mental illness (Goldman and Morrissey, 2020). However, the drug is mostly accompanied with devastating social impact over the life of community. In this way, legal authorities is taking initiatives to cope with the uses of drugs and its harmful impact on health.
What issue in this policy is addressing and explore how did it get on government agenda.
The policy as “Misuse of Drugs act 1971” is addressing the social issue as Mental health. Due to over uses of Drugs an individual can suffer from of mental health problem such as anxiety disorders, chromic disease and depression etc. Thus, legal authorities has taken the varied step to come with the policy that can aware the people about the uses of Alcohol and Drug within United Kingdom. Henceforth, this can be stated that the misuse of Drugs act 1971 has established the legal model within which the unlawful substances are categorized as per their detected characteristic and harmfulness at time when legal categorization has become progressively contested. In addition to this, drug policy is defined as policy that has made by legal authorities in relation to control and regulation of drugs considered as dangerous (Signorelli, Odone and Pelissero, 2020). Therefore, this can be stated that the Health and social care act 2012 made local authorities accountable for undertaking improvement in public health. The main aim is to undertake the prevention measures from the misuse of controlled drugs and to achieve this by imposing the complete ban on the ownership, economic process, trade good and exportation, manufacture if the all kind of the controlled drugs except from those under regulations or by the licence from the secretary of the state (Uyarra, Zabala-Iturriagagoitia and Magro, 2020). Henceforth, this came under the government agenda on the basis of following grounds as-:
- To prevent people from consuming drug.
- To target the people from criminals that seeks to profit from others misery and they also restricting the availability of drugs.
- To offer individual with drug dependence problem the best chance of recovery by support at each stage of life.
- To lead and drive action on the global scale.
It can be noted that drug misuse is one of the common issue among the people with the mental health problems. As per the research, it has been indicated that 70% of the individual within the community substances misuses the treatment that experience the mental illness. The misuse of Drugs Regulation 2001 has created under the 1971 act is all about the licensing of production, possession and supply of substances( Jansen, Van Oers and De Vries, 2010).
The memorandum of government stated that there were mainly two ways in which the ACMD agenda has been determined. Firstly, the ACMD is the act that is statutorily obliged to focus any relevant issue that has been referred to them by the legal authorities. In the second way, the ACMD can be defined as the liberty to set their own agenda in response to concern that is made aware through the professional experience (Anderson, Brownson and Land, 2005). The uses of drugs impacts the all parts of the society and this also strain on the health care system within the United Kingdom. In this agenda, it has been stated that the drug policy needs to be regularly reviewed and this must have the support of higher authority to undertaken the steps that aids to undertake things effectively.
Relaed Sample: Critical Analysis Essay
Outline the main policies objectives.
The common objective of misuse of Drugs act 1971 has defined in the following manner as are-:
- The 1971 Act has been made that provide the number of offences in relation to control drugs and this is inclusive of the importing and exporting, manufacture, supply or offering to supply, control and ownership with purpose to supply and permitting premises to undertake the use of certain activities that is inclusive of the production or supply of controlled drug and smoking soft drug (Miranda, Snowden and Legha, 2020).
- It is the act that provides Section 7 of the 1971 Act alter regulations that all are privileged under the mere act that are from the range of the above offensive.
- The main aim of this policy is to have reduction in the uses of substances abuse that aids to protect from from the health, safety and quality of life for all kind of the individuals.
- It is the act that has also decided the maximum penalties for the offences and this is define under sections 3 to 8 of the 1971 Act, this is the act that may vary as per the class of the controlled drugs, with high maxima if its apply for harmful drugs (Colebatch, 2005).
- The “Misuse of Drugs act 1971” has been constituted to undertake the advisory council on the misuse of drugs and this also provide independent advice to the legal authorities on the operations of the act. Henceforth, the ACMD act is responsible for following grounds as are-
- To consider any substances that are being, appears to be and misused, capable of having harmful impacts on the operational functions of the act ( Chatterjee, Chng and Reardon, 2020).
- To provide proper assistance in to carry out the in depth inquires into the aspect of drug that are causing particular concern within the United Kingdom. This mainly aims towards to producing report that can be helpful to makers of the policy and practitioner.
Henceforth, the National Institute on drug abuse has made the 2016 to 2020 NIDA strategic plan and this has defined in following manner as are-:
Henceforth, the Central element of mission to NIDA is to focus on plan of action that support and encourage the basic and clinical research on the uses of drugs and its consequences. Thus, central mission of this policy is to support and conduct the biomedical research to prevent, understand and to treat drug use and its consequences. In addition to this, the goal and objectives objectives has laid out under this strategical plan and these as are-:
- To undertake identification on the biological, environmental, behavioural and social causes and consequences of the uses of drugs.
- To take the initiatives that allows to develop and also improves the plan of actions that prevents uses of drugs and its consequences.
- To undertake the steps that create new and developed treatments that aid people who uses the substances.
- Enhancement in the impact of public health about the NIDA research and the relevant programmes.
Discussion on aspect relevant to formulation process.
Policy formulations can be termed out as the development of the effective and acceptable courses of actions that aids to addressing the thing that needs to be placed on the policy agenda. In addition to this, health policy is defined as decision, plans and action that needs to be undertaken to accomplish the specific health care goals within the society. In addition to this, public health policy is the defined as dynamic and continuous process that has to be occurred within the political context of constant negotiation (Jansen, Van Oers and De Vries, 2010 ). This is the term that mainly identifies the processes of public health policy development on the following grounds as are problem identification, setting of the agenda, policy formulation, to undertake the process of implementation and to take the evaluation of the policy.
The one of the prime object of the health policy is to defend and upgrade the health of the respective person and community. Henceforth, this can be stated that the most restrictive form of the drug policy is to undergo drug criminalisation in which the manufacture, production, sale and intake of the certain drugs are violation of the one or criminal statutes (Anderson, Brownson and Land, 2005). The main aim of policy formulation under the health care is to boost safe working environment for all the customers and this also guide staff in their action in relation to alcohol and use of substances and this also render the information and recommendation that supports the well-being of the consumer after their discharge.
This report is based on Alcohol and drugs mental health polices within United Kingdom. There are the main tow categories of the national drug policy. In this the first categories comes with the process as demand reduction, consist of prevention, treatments and rehabilitation activities. There are such activities that are mainly aimed towards to being stopped from the use of the drugs before its starts. This discourage the initial drug use from progressing into the issue of the drug use and ending the addiction and this connected damaging health and consequence of crime. Henceforth, the second category is inclusive of the efforts that curb the access to harmfulness of the drugs through activities that mainly aimed at cultivation, trafficking and production ( Miranda, Snowden, and Legha, 2020). The policy formulation can be defined as the crucial component as in many countries the drug quality assurance system are inadequate because they lack the necessary components.
Health can be defined as the fundamental human right and access to health care is mainly inclusive if the access towards to essential drugs. Essential drugs plays the vital role in the varied aspect of the health care policies (Colebatch, 2005). In order to promote the awareness in the individual this is crucial to undertake the steps that aids to build the plan of action that helps to bring the affordable and good quality care practices for the individuals within United Kingdom. Therefore, the policies should balance the varied goals and objectives and this also aids to creates the complete and consistent entity. In addition to this, the use of drugs and alcohol presents the significant challenges that are for the both mental health services and these are also seeking treatments for the mental illness. The main aim is to undertake the prevention programme and the strategies that will be based on the sound evidence based approaches and principles that must have shown to reduce the misuses of substance and other related harms significantly.
Implication of the policy and practice-:
In order to be the effective, this is crucial to provide the hindrance programs and polices that must be planned to address the common risk and this also inclusive of the varied components that highly causing the common health that threats that affects the people. This all needs to be tested with the help of the investigation and must be delivered continually end-to-end to the entire within the period of risk and this must be properly trained and supervised (THE PROCESS: POLICY DEVELOPMENT, 2015). By formulating the effective strategies this can be possible to be highly effective under the reduction of alcohol related problems as this needs to focussing on the issues by focussing over the social, political economic context. Thus, legal authorities of the UK needs to frame out the ethical principles that underlies effective policies such as shared responsibility, versatility, human tights guarantee etc.
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Theoretical reflection on the process of framing and formulating polices.
Policy formulation is a crucial process as it helps to undertake activities in a more advanced manner (Misuse of Drugs Legislation, 2017). For legal practitioners, policy refers to the laws, regulations, and courses of action designed to address issues affecting the general public. This report focuses on Alcohol and Drug Mental Health policies. To identify the most effective policy in this context, I conducted research to develop a suitable plan of action. The chosen policy was the “Misuse of Drugs Act 1971,” which aims to reduce substance use and establish a sound health policy for individuals.
To formulate a policy that addresses social issues, it is essential to determine objective criteria that assist decision-makers in setting goals and establishing scientific, ethical, and social parameters. As a policymaker, I believe it is crucial to pursue fair decisions to achieve better outcomes. In constructing the policy related to Alcohol and Drug Mental Health, I examined the public health interest to meet compelling health objectives. Initially, I reviewed the rationale behind the policy to facilitate public debate. I then assessed the effectiveness of the policies by analyzing scientific data and evaluating their potential impact on the general public. This process helped determine whether the health objectives of the policy are achievable. This step ensures that policymakers consider factors that accommodate both societal and individual interests. For students needing assistance with similar tasks, history assignment help can provide valuable support in crafting well-researched and structured assignments.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be summarized that the formulation of public health policy involves developing new public health laws and amending existing ones. Additionally, generating rules and regulations is a crucial part of the policy formulation process, setting the policy agenda effectively.
This research focuses on policy formulation related to Alcohol and Drug Mental Health policies, specifically examining the "Misuse of Drugs Act 1971," which addresses mental health as a social issue. The report emphasizes selecting policies that address these social issues and includes a discussion on the general framing of these issues. The study outlines the objectives of the policies and the process of formulating health policies. Finally, a reflection on the process of framing and formulating policies is included. For accuracy, using a grammar checker can help ensure the clarity and correctness of your writing.