Commissioner pledges to tackle substance misuse in Dyfed Powys

The figure has prompted Police and Crime Commissioner, Dafydd Llywelyn, to drive a more preventative approach to tackling substance misuse in the future.

He co-chaired a Cross Partnership Prevention Summit, which was also attended by Public Health, Crimestoppers and Anyone's Child, to see how agencies could work better together.

Mr Llywelyn said: "There have been 24 drug related deaths in the Dyfed Powys area so far during 2019, with 22 deaths in 2017 and 20 in 2018. To date in 2019, Dyfed Powys Police have made 834 arrests for drug offences.

"Those numbers of deaths are far too high and that is why it was crucial for me to co-chair this Cross Partnership Prevention Summit. I am passionate about driving a more preventative approach to tackling substance misuse.

"During the summit we were also given a very emotive presentation by a family who had lost a loved one to substance misuse. They set out what they believed would help others in that situation. Their story struck a chord with us all and it bolstered our commitment even further to improve our service provision to reduce the harm and deaths from substance misuse."

The group heard about the impact of adverse childhood experiences and how these affect the wellbeing of future generations.

Evidence shows that experiences such as domestic violence, drugs and alcohol or parents who are incarcerated make children increasingly more likely to develop health-harming behaviours including substance misuse, violence or unintended teenage pregnancy.

Attendees were also told about the innovative, award-winning research into drug detection and identification that is being undertaken in the pharmacological arena.

The key conclusions from the summit included the need to reduce the barriers posed by information sharing between agencies, the importance of partnership working and the desire for exploring new approaches to harm reduction.