We were concerned that the government’s drug strategy made little reference to women.70 Written evidence submitted by the Office of the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner underlined the limited consideration of women and girls in the strategy, and the lack of reference to wider work on women in the criminal justice system.71 This was reinforced by evidence submitted by Dr Fay Dennis of Goldsmiths, University of London, who highlighted that barriers to drug treatment were magnified for those marginalised by gender, sexuality, class and race.72 When asked what was being done to target different cohorts of people taking drugs, the JCDU told us it was aware there are specific barriers faced by women seeking treatment for drugs misuse but could not offer any examples of targeted treatment services. It is up to the combating drugs partnerships to draw up local needs assessments, taking account of the differing demographics in their area.73 61 Q 83 62 Qq 6, 38, 40 63 Supplementary evidence from Mr Mike Trace, Chief Executive Officer of Forward Trust, 13 December 2023 64 Q 40 65 Q 74 66 Supplementary evidence from Mr Mike Trace, Chief Executive Officer of Forward Trust 67 C&AG’s Report, para 1.3 68 Qq 118–121 69 C&AG’s Report, para 1.6 70 Q 136 71 (RHD0007) 72 (RHD0002) 73 Q 136 Reducing the harm from illegal drugs 15 Preventing drug use