Heroin made available on the NHS in Britain - nobody notices

[Seneca]

I thought this would have caused a political storm, but it was announced a few weeks ago, and I've only just noticed myself.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2537265.stm

It's probably typical of this government's tendency to downplay its real achievements, since a lot of them tend to be things the right-wing press wouldn't approve of.

[C0ckney]

personally i think heroin should be made legal and that the money saved should be used for treatment, but using taxpayers money to give heroin to addicts is not a good idea.

[Seneca]

Why do you think it's not a good idea? I agree full legalisation would be preferable, but I don't think it could happen in the current political climate (the last poll I saw showed the general public about 80% against).

[MosesPresley]

It is about time that someone is treating the drug problem as a health issue and not a criminal issue.

As far as taxpayers paying for shots, it is probably cheaper than paying the law enforcement to track down the drug users as well as the cost of incarcerating them.

[Seneca]

Very true - the people complaining about using taxpayers' money for this don't seem to realise it would cost ten times more to put them in prison.

[Seneca]

This is dead controversial, you know...

[Provost Harrison]

I could do with some of that stuff...

[aahz_capone]

get in line Provost.

[Alexander's Horse]

This is old news. Doctors in Liverpool England have been prescribing heroin to addicts for over 20 years. Its dispensed from pharmacies.

The world didn't come to end

The fact most of you have never heard of this blows wide open the argument that treating addiction as a medical problem would cause some sort of doomsday for society.

Its common in other parts of the world including Australia for doctors to prescribe morphine to hard core addicts for other conditions like back pain, when really what they are doing is managing an addiction. Very sensible. Many people with severe pain end up addicted to pain killers.

[Seneca]

Supplied with Tasmanian produce, I believe...

Still, so far the scheme has been too limited to make much of an impact - the new policy is to treat all addicts in this way.

My reservation is - if it's still illegal, will they still be locked up? Seeing as next to no bugger is reporting this story, it's hard to get at the details.

[Alexander's Horse]

Its only illegal if its not prescribed

[mandarin]

Lets not for a moment fool ourselves into believing that this system is anywhere near acceptable, controlled or otherwise.

Freedom from addiction means freedom in all ist forms from the use/abuse of the drugs,substances that in any way affect the mind/mood/mentality of the person involved.

Do you suppose, aside from the legality aspect, that an addict would not hesitate to take this opportunity to abuse the system any more than he/she might abuse their parents/employers/friends which they very frequently do anyway!

Dont be fooled or beguiled by a seemingly innoccuous solution that relies too heavily on the physical aspect of addiction.

Noble as it may seem, and many noble efforts have been doomed to failure, it is altruistic and oversimplistic!

Addiction is a spiritual/mental and physical disease. Treating one, without regard for the others, is unlikely to produce any better permanent results. The problem is often far deeper and needs to be dealt with on all levels and over an extended period of time.

Just my thoughts and observation

[Alexander's Horse]

Some diseases are chronic rather than curable.

[Anodyne]

Remember W.S.Burroughs's "pyramid theory"...

[Seneca]

Originally posted by mandarin
Lets not for a moment fool ourselves into believing that this system is anywhere near acceptable, controlled or otherwise.

Freedom from addiction means freedom in all ist forms from the use/abuse of the drugs,substances that in any way affect the mind/mood/mentality of the person involved.

Do you suppose, aside from the legality aspect, that an addict would not hesitate to take this opportunity to abuse the system any more than he/she might abuse their parents/employers/friends which they very frequently do anyway!

Dont be fooled or beguiled by a seemingly innoccuous solution that relies too heavily on the physical aspect of addiction.

Noble as it may seem, and many noble efforts have been doomed to failure, it is altruistic and oversimplistic!

Addiction is a spiritual/mental and physical disease. Treating one, without regard for the others, is unlikely to produce any better permanent results. The problem is often far deeper and needs to be dealt with on all levels and over an extended period of time.

Just my thoughts and observation

Well, if it stops them nicking my stereo, I'm happy.