Unless sufficient funding can be obtained, then we have been left with no option other than to close down Daily Dose at the end of March. We appreciate that the vast majority of you are not aware of the nature of our funding crisis.

WIRED has maintained Daily Dose for over seven years, publishing every single day. Our email service has over 6,000 subscribers worldwide, the site receives over 800,000 hits per month, and we are continually amazed by the positive comments we receive on a regular basis.

However, during this seven-year period, we have survived either on a low level of funding or no money at all. Even though last year was one of our best, we only attracted approximately £23,000 sponsorship, which did not cover our costs.

I have worked for free over the entire time, including the 18 months I spent actually uploading Daily Dose. I have subsidised the service with my own personal money, which I can ill-afford to do. As a result of the lack of funding, our Editor Jim Young works for Daily Dose at the same time as maintaining his University post. Each day before work, he searches and uploads material, returning to this task each evening. He does this every day, and every weekend, without a break. We are telling you this because we want you to know the level of our input and commitment to Daily Dose.

Daily Dose cannot though be supported solely by the commitment of our resources. If it is valuable to the field, then the field has to take on some responsibility for supporting this initiative. And whether we like it or not we have reached that point where Daily Dose can only survive if the field itself provides the necessary level of support.

It is sad that the UK, which spends over £3 billion pounds per year tackling substance misuse, cannot find the £100K per year necessary to support Daily Dose. You know as well as I do just how much money Daily Dose saves the professional field by hunting out these articles for you, and similarly how the information collated by Daily Dose is helping improve services.

We do not want to take Daily Dose offline, we love it as much as you do - it’s a part of our lives as well - but we simply have no option. The last Daily Dose will be published on March 31st 2008 unless we receive signed commitments to a level of funding that allows us to run the service without this continuous financial insecurity. If Daily Dose does have to go offline, then we promise to restore the service as soon as sufficient financial commitment is made. But we have strained every sinew year-on-year to keep Daily Dose alive – we are financially, emotionally and physically drained. So now we are asking that you in the field, both nationally and internationally, make every effort to help save your Daily Dose.

Professor David Clark, Director of WIRED mail: david@substancemisuse.net
(Please note that WIRED will become ‘Wired In’ from the end of this month)