The street campaigns of the mid 1990s and the citywide campaign that grew out of them were driven by the reality of the drugs situation in local communities. Things had got so bad and so little was being done that people took to the streets and campaigned to try and improve the situation.

The anger of local communities and the campaigns that grew out of that anger played a major role in finally making the drugs crisis a political priority in 1996. We saw the setting up of the Task Forces, based on the community-led partnership model developed by the Interagency Project in the North Inner City. For the next few years, it seemed that the political will was there to tackle the drugs crisis and many projects and programmes came into being, offering hope for a better future for our drug users and their communities.

But where are we now? Despite the fact that many of these projects and programmes have helped to give us glimpses of a better future, the drugs issue is no longer seen as a political priority. Experience shows us that it is only when there is political will to tackle the problem that real progress can be made. Communities cannot and will not do it on their own.

We have got to start campaigning to make the drugs crisis a political priority again and as in the mid 90s, the campaign has to be driven by the reality of the drugs situation on the ground in local communities.