What do you think of Heroin Addicts?

[IVAN LILLEY]

Do you mean legalise smackratism?

 

first, i think this vile addiction needs taking on, head on. not just allowed to continue as it is.

second, how should it be done? a, lock an addict up until they have been clean for a year? and keep doing that for repeat offenders b, make smack free to addicts and pour money into a national rehab scheme. (what money) the money saved from trying to stop the smack getting into uk, locking up smack dealers, the drop in crime ( as addicts steal to fund addiction, or sell there bodies)etc etc, as there would be no market in the uk, as smack would be free.

[wednesday1]

first, i think this vile addiction needs taking on, head on. not just allowed to continue as it is.

second, how should it be done? a, lock an addict up until they have been clean for a year? and keep doing that for repeat offenders b, make smack free to addicts and pour money into a national rehab scheme. (what money) the money saved from trying to stop the smack getting into uk, locking up smack dealers, the drop in crime ( as addicts steal to fund addiction, or sell there bodies)etc etc, as there would be no market in the uk, as smack would be free.

 

 

I can see you've really thought this through. I think your scheme has merit, but I would be opposed to any moves to make the taking of smack compulsory.

[IVAN LILLEY]

I can see you've really thought this through. I think your scheme has merit, but I would be opposed to any moves to make the taking of smack compulsory.

 

as would i:|

[slimsid2000]

I think they should be locked up until they are completely over their adiction. It would be a kindness to the rest of society.

[I1L2T3]

Sure it's been said many times on this thread but addicts are just people with an illness. Like with any addiction it's only when the addict is genuinely ready that they can be really helped. The problem is what to do with em in the meantime. If medicalising certain addictive drugs is the best thing for society as a whole I'm all for it.

 

I remember hearing a story about a GP who had become addicted to diamorphine, not the street stuff but the pure pharmaceutical grade heroin that can be prescribed. He worked for years with a serious habit, fully functional while at work and a very good GP. The difference between him and the addicts that have to buy on the street is that he had good pure uncut gear, clean needles and syringes, no need to visit dangerous areas, no need to earn money in illegal ways and no need to deal with dodgy people. If heroin was medicalised then many addicts could be helped to lead clean productive lives while they work through their addiction issues.

 

Just my view

[IVAN LILLEY]

Sure it's been said many times on this thread but addicts are just people with an illness. Like with any addiction it's only when the addict is genuinely ready that they can be really helped. The problem is what to do with em in the meantime. If medicalising certain addictive drugs is the best thing for society as a whole I'm all for it.

 

I remember hearing a story about a GP who had become addicted to diamorphine, not the street stuff but the pure pharmaceutical grade heroin that can be prescribed. He worked for years with a serious habit, fully functional while at work and a very good GP. The difference between him and the addicts that have to buy on the street is that he had good pure uncut gear, clean needles and syringes, no need to visit dangerous areas, no need to earn money in illegal ways and no need to deal with dodgy people. If heroin was medicalised then many addicts could be helped to lead clean productive lives while they work through their addiction issues.

 

Just my view

 

and a good one in my opinion.

[apelike]

 

I read somewhere that heroin uses are basically chasing that ultimate buzz they got when they first tried it.

It seems to me more a mental addiction than a physical one,although there are of course physiclal whithdrawl symptons.

 

 

As an ex addict I can tell you that there is a lot of truth in that as the first time it is incredible. Its like the feeling you get from a pre-med before an operation, you feel like you are floating, relaxed and have no cares in the world. Because you then know what its like you want more and after taking it regular for just a short while you get the addiction kicking in and need it just to function normally. That initial first buzz now no longer exists and its then about dependency.

 

Its a physical dependency/addiction. The brain no longer produces much dopamine? because the heroin takes over and is being substituted for it. That's why you get dependent on it and get "cold turkey" withdrawals without any. Another downside is that of body tolerance, over time the body gets used to the dose so it then has to be increased to get the same effect.

 

---

 

From past experience its not about local pushers making money as most I knew that sold it did so to subsidise their own habit. Its the importers of heroin that make the big money and not the normal "street" dealers. Its also more common to smoke it or "chase the dragon" than to inject it.

 

Sadly I have known many people that became addicts who are now dead from heroin related problems, 7 to date I believe. Some of them had stopped and then got back into it despite knowing the risks. Some had also been imprisoned, become clean and when released associated with the same friends? again reverting back to old habits. The trouble is there is little or no support to help stop them regressing back into old ways. I also knew a few female addicts who also did "business" and turned to prostitution to support their cravings.

 

After 26 years of being off the stuff it seem that little has bee done in that time to combat the menace. The task should be to cut it out at the source and stop or severely limit the trade. Strange as it may seem there is a world shortage of pharmaceutical heroin and most of what we get we buy from Australia. We could pay the Afghan farmers to produce it and then buy the crop but the USA vetoes any idea of that saying its like rewarding the Afghans! or maybe its because its big business in the USA and controlled by powerful guys.

 

Personally I don't think heroin should be legalised or that substitutes should be given to addicts. They need to get off it fully, be supported after and given something to do, e.g.. a job. Boredom and nothing to do after quitting is very hard to deal with. The quitting bit is not that bad to manage if handled right, it just take a bit of time, willingness and support.

 

One thing I would like to see is the way drugs are dealt with in the courts. For most offences it needs decriminalising and making a civil conviction. Having been prosecuted even though it was many years ago I now have a criminal conviction for drugs. Even now that automatically stops me from applying for certain jobs, going to certain countries and is a real barrier to any future employment. Oh, and I think cannabis should also be decriminalised for the same reasons.

 

What I did I did to myself ages ago and yet I still suffer from its effects. It ruined my life in a big way and caused problems even to this day. Perhaps we should ask why people find it necessary to take hard drugs in the first place and then help deal with the causes.

 

I know why I did, you don't.

 

Just my 2p for what its worth.

[spindrift]

Every country that has experimented with prescribed heroin has achieved fewer addicts, less acquisitive crime, fewer deaths.

 

I've yet to hear an argument against presribing heroin to addicts.

[apelike]

Every country that has experimented with prescribed heroin has achieved fewer addicts, less acquisitive crime, fewer deaths.

 

I've yet to hear an argument against presribing heroin to addicts.

 

Ok, here goes.

 

Its cosmetic and just massages the problem. It does not reduce the amount of known addicts, how can it if you are prescribing it to them? What it does is keep those that are already addicted at a safe level which then has a knock on effect that produces less crime and fewer deaths. In those countries its still available on the streets and most people become addicted to "street gear" first. TBH I've not read anywhere that it has achieved fewer addicts. Maybe any reduction shown is because those countries also have combined it with a good policy in helping addicts to get off it.

 

Prescribing heroin to addicts may be safer but it still does not address the wider problem of its availability, use and that of addiction.

[spindrift]

Ok, here goes.

 

Its cosmetic and just massages the problem. It does not reduce the amount of known addicts, how can it if you are prescribing it to them? What it does is keep those that are already addicted at a safe level which then has a knock on effect that produces less crime and fewer deaths. In those countries its still available on the streets and most people become addicted to "street gear" first. TBH I've not read anywhere that it has achieved fewer addicts. Maybe any reduction shown is because those countries also have combined it with a good policy in helping addicts to get off it.

 

Prescribing heroin to addicts may be safer but it still does not address the wider problem of its availability, use and that of addiction.

 

 

 

None of these statements are true. The evidence is that usage decreases when heroin is prescribed.

 

Fewer addicts.

 

In The Netherlands the average age of heroin users is going up. In the UK, it's going down.

 

Prohibition has not merely failed to cut the supply of illicit drugs: it has actively spread drug use.

 

 

The easiest way for new users to fund their habit is to sell drugs and consume the profit; so they go out and find new users to sell to; so it is that when one child in the classroom starts using, others soon join in; one user in the street and neighbours soon follow.

 

 

Black-market drug use spreads geometrically.

 

The Health Education Authority in 1995 found that 70% of people aged between 11 and 35 had been offered drugs at some time. Pushers push.

 

When Britain began to impose prohibition of heroin, in 1968, there were fewer then 500 heroin addicts in Britain - a few jazz musicians, some poets, some Soho Chinese.

 

 

Now, the Home Office says there may be as many as 500,000.

 

 

This is pyramid selling at its most brilliantly effective.

 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2001/jun/14/drugsandalcohol.socialsciences