McKay's Corner

Drug users will be urged to ditch methadone and other softly-softly approaches in favour of "cold turkey" at addiction treatment centres, under the party's Holyrood election plans. Picture: Sean Bell.

THE biggest shake-up of drugs policy for 20 years is to be pushed through by Labour in a bid to get Scotland's 50,000 addicts off heroin and other deadly substances.
Drug users will be urged to ditch methadone and other softly-softly approaches in favour of "cold turkey" at addiction treatment centres, under the party's Holyrood election plans.
Party chiefs are increasingly frustrated with "so-called experts" in the health service who continue to advocate that harm reduction - managing addicts' drug use - is the answer.
In a dramatic policy U-turn, senior Labour figures are convinced addicts should be pressured to get themselves clean, and out of the cycle of drug abuse and crime that blights countless lives.
Drugs policy throughout the UK is under unprecedented scrutiny following the murders of five prostitutes in Ipswich, all of whom were working the streets to feed their habits.
Scottish ministers will shortly unveil a manifesto pledge to crack down on the drugs crisis should they be returned to power following May's Holyrood election. The planned measures include:
• Removing addicts from their own communities where temptation is too strong, in order to attend abstinence courses in other areas. A pilot programme about to begin in Edinburgh will be rolled out across the country, if it is shown to produce results;
• A crackdown on health boards which, Labour chiefs claim, are currently forcing addicts to wait for months before they attending a rehabilitation course by leaving beds unfilled;
• A change in the law allowing routine searching of prison visitors to prevent drugs from being smuggled inside;
• Getting ex-addicts into schools to 'scare' pupils about the reality of hard drug addiction.
Critics within the addiction services last night claimed the moves could be counter-productive and might force thousands of addicts underground.
But the plan's supporters insisted tough measures had to be taken if Scotland was ever to turn around the drug menace.
Scotland has been rocked by a series of shocking cases involving drug use, including the death of a two-year-old boy who had drunk the methadone prescribed for his drug addict mother.
And the moves are strongly supported by one of Scotland's leading drug experts, Professor Neil McKeganey.
This week he is calling for an end to the 20-year-old policy of harm reduction, which sees services hand out methadone and needles to addicts in the hope of stabilising their lives and preventing infection.
In a recent report, he found that, three years after going on a methadone course, only 3% of addicts remained totally drug-free.
McKeganey told Scotland on Sunday: "I think it is right that we have a clearer direction of policy which is toughening the approach."
McKeganey met First Minister Jack McConnell in the wake of the report, and Labour ministers have now appeared to change tack in line with his findings. While methadone services will continue, senior Labour sources say that the focus will be on getting all addicts off drugs.
One senior Labour figure said: "Our view is that there is a place for methadone but it should not be about people being parked on it and then left for years. There has to be an aim of getting them drug-free. Yes, we will help them but they have got a responsibility. People have just thought up till now that they have a right to methadone and that's it."
The insider added: "We feel very strongly that this agenda has been run by a fairly narrow range of people and not enough attention is being paid to people and their families. It is time to shift the balance away from them".
Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson is understood to be furious over the lengthy wait addicts are being forced to endure in order to get into rehabilitation, and is now pressing Health Minister Andy Kerr to put pressure on health boards.
Jamieson is also said to be in favour of ex-addicts being sent into schools: a tactic first employed in the 1980s which is strongly opposed by addiction services, who said scaring children did not work.
Scots Tory leader Annabel Goldie - who has long pressed for a stronger focus on drug prevention - said: "The biggest thing we have been calling for is a sea change in the attitude of the government. If, at long last, Labour is waking up then that has got to be welcomed, but it should not need an election for it to happen. It needs to happen now."
But David Liddell, director of the Scottish Drugs Forum, said: "The risk with abstinence is that if people are without proper support and are pushed too quickly you get a revolving door where they are off drugs for a while before going back on. We need more light than heat and unfortunately in the run up to an election, you get more heat."
One plans to introduce ex-addicts into schools, he added: "These were felt to be inappropriate because they employed shock horror tactics and all the evidence is that these tactics don't work and can lead to an increase in drug use."
Related topics
Drugs policyhttp://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=220
Heroinhttp://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=1162
This article: http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1872172006
Last updated: 17-Dec-06 00:38 GMT
Comments Add your comment
1. druidh / 1:31am 17 Dec 2006
Great idea - let's start with those already in Her Majestys institutions.Report as unsuitable
2. Ricky / 1:39am 17 Dec 2006
50,000 addicts and a population of 5m - I’d rather take drugs than listen to the policies of labour - its obvious!
More labour tosh! Piss up in a brewery comes to mind!Report as unsuitable
3. scottwebb.co.uk / 1:51am 17 Dec 2006
It has always amazed me when we have 600(reported ) SAS down in Hereford of the finest in the world......yet no one can SEEM to stop the drug gangsters.........i mean lets be honest does this not constitute a clear and present danger ?Report as unsuitable
4. Guga, Rockall / 2:11am 17 Dec 2006
At last the numpties are beginning to wake up to the problem. How much taxpayers money is being wasted on the Methadone programme? Cold turkey is the way to go.
As for prisons, keep the visitors and prisoners totally separate by having glass between them. Then, if drugs are still getting into the prisons, sort out the prison officers.
Ignore the trendies and the social workers, they haven't got it right yet, and never will.Report as unsuitable
5. Richard, West Lothian / 2:22am 17 Dec 2006
Heroin users don't have to go cold turkey and they don't have to have methadone either.
The Spanish use an injection of (can't remember the name) some agent that attacks the heroin in the body by attracting the heroin molecules in the bloodstream and killing them. Thus removing the physical addiction within 24 hours & so no cold turkey.
The psychological addiction is therefore made that much more easy to beat, knowing the process of C.T. Hasn't to be faced.
Why can't this method be used instead, it altogether seems, a much better, more humane and effective way of tackling the problem?Report as unsuitable
6. Guga, Rockall / 2:46am 17 Dec 2006
#5 You're right, there is a drug for that. the emergency ambulance crews use it to give to heroin users that have overdosed. It is called can something, or something can; I can't really remember.Report as unsuitable
7. Whistle Berries, Marysville, WA, USA / 3:30am 17 Dec 2006
Medical and psychiatric research learned about the connectivity of mental health issues and substance abuse many years ago. It is called "self-medication."
The 'addicts' and/or alcoholics, need psychiatric intervention to find the underlying cause as to why people ‘need’ to “self-medicate.”
Providing other substances, or, requiring the person to quit drinking or drugging by the "cold turkey" method, does not solve the subconscious psychiatric or psychological problems that are causing or driving the person to self-medicate.
As soon as "treatment providers" and, elected authorities realize what is necessary for a comprehensive treatment program, maybe the substance abusers will have a better chance at full recovery; and, become a productive member of society.
While some people believe that alcoholism is a disease, and that is not true. Alcoholism is an addiction.
All addictive issues point to self-medicating, and those issues need the proper medical (psychiatric and psychological) intervention, for a better chance of treatment success.Report as unsuitable
8. KATIE MAC NAUGHTON, EDINBURGH / 3:43am 17 Dec 2006
they will just find other ways to get high, they have addictive personallitys, I dont mean all of them but at least 30% do.Report as unsuitable
9. bigkev, china / 4:30am 17 Dec 2006
won't work......... just sounds nice, create a few highly paid jobs for someone and his friends
you only become an addict after trying the stuff...... if we are going to be serious with drugs we have to get very very hard with dealers.... but that is too much to expect from the british gov.
life i.e. 30 years no parole for anyone caught with more than reasonable quantities beyond that of self use - 5 years for anyone caught with class 1 any quantityReport as unsuitable
10. Richard, West Lothian / 5:04am 17 Dec 2006
Bigkev,30 years no parole for anyone caught with more than reasonable quantities beyond that of self use........of what exactly?Report as unsuitable
11. Vambo, Vibrainia / 6:30am 17 Dec 2006
6, Narcan. It is used to try and reverse an overdose nothing more.Report as unsuitable
12. Paul Voltaire, www.paulvoltaire.spaces.live.com / 6:34am 17 Dec 2006
I am sorry but I will have enough cold turkey over the holiday season.Hot duck sounds much better.Report as unsuitable
13. Andrew the Expat, Glasgow / 7:27am 17 Dec 2006
Drug addiction should be medicalised, not criminalised. Addicts get their heroin or whatever free on the NHS. This gives 3 advantages:
a) Regular dose of high-quality stuff avoids death through overdosing, infections, etc and allows the addicts to live (relatively) normal lives, like diabetics who need daily injections.
b) It removes the cause for a huge amount of theft, prostitution, etc. and puts drug pushers out of business
c) Without drug pushers, the number of new addicts each year will steadily fall.
Any politician brave enough to support this idea?Report as unsuitable
14. Perkins, Loch Lomond / 7:48am 17 Dec 2006
I agree with Katie #8
This is a personality problem.For many addicts if it wasn't one thing it would be another, the other users are a bit like sheep in that they will follow the leader or go with the flow. Why you would embark on the use of a drug that will ruin any finances you ever had, do serious damage to your health and make you loose all control of any of your body functions is a puzzle to many of us .....I think they like to be dependant on something .... anything !!, just so they can feel they are victims.You do this one of two ways, you stamp on it hard or you make the use of heroin, as a user, legal. The very worst part of the drug culture is the culture itself, it's full of the most unsavoury pieces of humanity who generate subcultures of theft, prostitution, violence. If you can get the addicts away from that hell hole they stand some sort of a chance in getting their lives back on track.Imagine it from the point of view of the young girl who doesn't have to go into a car with someone she doesn't know to perform some sort of sex act to earn the money to buy the drug. Take that problem away, the streets become safer, petty theft and shoplifting numbers drop ... and the young girl won't have that used, dirty feeling that only goes away when she takes more of the drug.Not an easy one to fix ..... and getting harder since we have allowed the eastern block Europeans to dump the worst of their populations on our welfare state.Report as unsuitable
15. F.R.E.E. Mason, Brisbane,Australia. / 8:24am 17 Dec 2006
Expert my buttocks!If you think a group of middle-aged,middle-class Sainsbury shoppers are going to sort out this mess,-think again! The only true "experts" are the people who have fought and beaten their addiction! Lets listen to them! (with an interpreter of course)Report as unsuitable
16. LewisAdam, Leith, Edinburgh / 8:38am 17 Dec 2006
This seems to be the usual "get tough" message in the run up to an election. It is a shame that our ministers do not get tough with the addicts that are fiddling money one way or another from the Executive, taxi fares and housing costs spring to mind. Of course that will never happen.Report as unsuitable
17. Boswell / 8:45am 17 Dec 2006
[8] Katie:More sense said in one sentence than the whole of the article.
[13] Andrew: ...Without drug pushers, the number of new addicts each year will steadily fall.
A flimsy assertion at best. On which wealth of facts and verifiable research do you base this?The fact is that dealers only come into being to service a demand. No demand, no dealers. Given Katie's statement, which I wholeheartedly endorse, you will never have a situation of zero demand. Ergo, there will always be pushers.
It is facile to suggest that state controlled provision can circumvent this. Anyone with an addictive personality will consume until they drop, given half the chance. Unless state provided smack is given without limit, there will always be a demand for illicit supplies. hence there will always be dealers. You're living in some kind of fantasy world where everyone's needs and demands are met by the state. Get serious; the restriction of these maintenance programs and "drugs for life" is long overdue, and its past time that society not just demanded it but enforced it too.Report as unsuitable
18. killie bob, lancs / 9:02am 17 Dec 2006
Those who supply drugs to our children are beyond redemption. Scum etc you call it. We all know who the suppliers are in our individual communities - if we don't just go and ask someone. The solution as far as I am concerned is zero tolerance towards the dealers. Let them know that their presence is no longer required in our midst. Identify them and get rid of them - whatever method that takes.
I have often thought of how different terrorist groups exist for this cause and that cause. Maybe a better cause would be to focus their efforts on getting rid of the dealers. No human rights for people who will corrupt and hook our children into a world of drugs and deprevation while they roam the streets in their expensive cars.Report as unsuitable
19. Rudi, Mozambique / 9:08am 17 Dec 2006
#4 correct as for #5 being more humane bullshit it is self inflicted and the misery the place on others is beyond measure.Report as unsuitable
20. Bobby Henry, coatbridge / 9:11am 17 Dec 2006
Oops! - there goes your new HD Television - better check your house insurance because without the only stablising treatment for these people - they will have to get up every morning and find thirty pounds -over and over again -not to get high but just to function. I'm sorry to see them get this so drastically wrong and yes, there will be an unprecedented crime wave because you have just taken the last hope away from one of the lower levels of the communityReport as unsuitable
21. Rulesbutnotrulers, East Lothian / 9:20am 17 Dec 2006
13 is right. 17 is wrong.
Dealers create demand, not merely supply it. Very few babies are born lusting after heroin, etc. The long term solution is to get rid of dealers/pushers. This can be done by the NHS supplying drugs safely and below market prices. Once there is no drugs market the pushing will cease and future kids will be safe from that temptation. Short term solutions probably do include a sensible mixture of cold turkey as well as methadone if AA experience is valid. Our very popular local church minister was a drug addict, He is now instead drunk on Jesus. Seems a good way for an addictive personality to cope.Report as unsuitable
22. Alamo, Glasgow / 9:25am 17 Dec 2006
Anyone caught with drugs....10 years. No questions asked, and no parole or methadone. All animal drug testing to be abolished, and the drug testing that was previously carried out on animals to be carried out on these prisoners. Before being imprisoned, they seemed to like taking drugs so no problem there.
SortedReport as unsuitable
23. Isabel Ronan, Edinburgh / 9:26am 17 Dec 2006
I hope this is not yet another thought by a quango with a lot of money involved.We have been there before.Why are the Drugs Groups not put under an umberella where they can share resources and money. Education is the key put the pictures in show the sores from needle marks.Do it for smoking take a smokers lungs in.Put the message in firmly it will only stop if you can catch the children before they fall. Yes people will disagree but children have a Right to the true knowledge of what all the substances do.They do not learn if not told when you see them smoking and drinking then that is obvious! Prisoners too why is threrehabilitation so appalling.That would be one for another quango.Report as unsuitable
24. bigkev, china / 9:47am 17 Dec 2006
just because we are having difficulty stopping it (with our pissy soft methods) does not mean we bare our #rse and give in and allow drugs...do you want your colleagues at work high half the time, taxi drivers high, train drivers, your kids, the doctor, school kids
people can't function, forget friday night recreational BS, that's how it starts and next minute it's every day - habits evolve, yoo start will dope and end up a dope!
#10, crack, herion, lsd, medication which you can't be on - horse pills etc etc - is it not obvious?Report as unsuitable
25. Alix, Devon / 10:17am 17 Dec 2006
It is the suppliers that should be found and dealt with, as they are the ones who cause the misery for drug users. Also those who use drugs must have some underlying social Problem which should be addressed.Unfortunately we are now in about the third generation of drug taking. This has led to poor parenting and children following in their parents footsteps.Report as unsuitable
26. Citylocal Fife, Abreast of the News in Fife / 10:19am 17 Dec 2006
Surely the headline should read....
"THE biggest shake-up of drugs policy for 20 years is to be pushed through by Labour in a bid to get more votes!"
This is just another cunning 'pretendy' ploy from a 'pretendy' government. When placing your cross on the ballot paper next year, it would be well to remember those who have been right all along, and not those who, after ensuring that they have screwed up the economy, not to mention peoples lives, are playing the electioneering game to its full despicable limit.
Jack and co were elected to represent the people, at which they have failed spectacularly. The theme they use regarding drugs seems to be substitution; (albeit this time it's the method instead of the substance) so following that theme they should be prepared for a substitution of Government next year.
Make Your Vote count in May.Report as unsuitable
27. c.u jimmy, glasgow / 10:27am 17 Dec 2006
We need the toughest policy ever on the Mr Bigs Minimum 25year sentice,all assets stripped,couriers minimum 20year sentice all assets stripped,street dealers minimum 15years.this is our biggest challenge it;s gone on far too long lets bite the bullit and start now.c'mon Hollyrood rise to the challenge every decent Scot has had enough!Report as unsuitable
28. Tobydawg, Here & there / 10:34am 17 Dec 2006
It's time to get the gloves off.Report as unsuitable
29. Trotter, Stonehouse / 10:57am 17 Dec 2006
Guga, I costs the NHS about £3000 for an overnight stay at A and E. This is common place with injecting drug users. As is crime, prostitution and blood borne disease (think of the cost of treatment for AIDs and HIV). All this adds up to a far greater cost than methadone, which costs about a quid a bottle!
On the whole, methadone is a cheap and effective answer. Alright the patients are on it for years, but it is cheaper and safer than the alternative.
Guga/Richard, I think you guys are referring to Naloxone which blocks the effects of Heroin, Morphine, Methadone etc. I would precipitate withdrawal, but I guarantee they will all be injecting by the end of the week if this approach was tried without looking at the psychological side of addiction (see Whistle Berries, 7.).
I agree that this is all about votes in the election and dishing out methadone, or indeed heroin, on the NHS will be the realistic future.Report as unsuitable
30. onaboat dee, gulf o mexico / 11:06am 17 Dec 2006
#K No.8 30 % ,Where do you get this figure from?,but I agree with you on your ideas.We as a nation can´t possibly do is mainstream heroin into an overstreched NHS ,if you do this it won´t get rid of drug dealers as there is a thing in the human brain called greed ,people will stil steal /sell sex ect for more ,if you give the drugs for free people who want more are going to end up payig a higher price for the fix ,its simple ecomomics demand and supply.This new approach won´t work either ,drugs in UK are easy to obtain ,yes people are like sheep in away that 1 follows the other.I think that we should teach children the hard facts in schools at an early age ( primary school) ,let a drug addict try to talk to kids about drugs ,show DVDs of them when they are high ,show photos of them before they were on drugs and let the kids see what they look like now ,for sure any kid can seee for themselfs the impact that drugs have on life in the community.We should start a sports/rec program for school leavers so that they attend monthly to see ex class mates until the age of 21 ,that way they are still bonded in a way to there own generation and try to aspire to the good of ther own generation ,and put back on track if they should stray,social inclusion with people of the same age group is a big thing that gets overlooked ,i.e so and so is doing well for themselfs ect ect.Glass in jail is a great idea ,I don´t know why we don´t have it!Also no parole for 2nd time offenders should be law.Commit the crime do the time beware.Report as unsuitable
31. jacky, England / 11:22am 17 Dec 2006
Another load of election spin and hot air from those who have been responsible for the 'downgrading' of drug culture in this country!
What about tackling the grass routes of the problem, restricting the free flow of drugs into this country from places like Afghanistan, or would that create an economic problem for Aghanistan seeing that 80 per cent of their heroin finishes up on our streets?Report as unsuitable
32. S.A.M, glasgow / 11:45am 17 Dec 2006
The goverment are sitting high and looking low.This drug problem doesn't affect them!Don't be so sure, if a drug dealer gets the chance your child is just as vulnerable as the rest.
time to wipe out the BIG MENReport as unsuitable
33. JD, Glasgow / 12:20pm 17 Dec 2006
Quote (Scottish ministers will shortly unveil a manifesto pledge to crack down on the drugs crisis should they be returned to power following May's Holyrood election. )
This is not about the Drug Crisis.. It's all about getting re elected.
If the Scottish Ministers were really concerned, they would be Cracking down on the drug crisis.. NOW instead of waiting till May..
If we were gullible enough to believe this.. and re elect them.. you can be sure that they would then come up with a reason for NOT fulfilling .. yet another ..promiseReport as unsuitable
34. Douglas, Bathgate / 12:28pm 17 Dec 2006
They're called dealers now but used to be pushers, a more accurate and understandable job description.To grow their business, their product constantly has introductory offers to bring in new customers. The same methods used by the (slightly) more benign supermarkets work on the street too. Free samples, buy one get one free, short term credit, home delivery, smaller "local" outlets.If the government wanted to shut down Tesco they wouldn't piss about checking sales in a local store, they'd be banging on the door at head office looking for the people in charge, cutting off supply and control. The people at the top of the drug chain MUST be known to our authorities or we quite simply need new people in charge. Either make the reasons for inaction public and a matter of record, or get on with the job they are paid to do.Mind you, it just crossed my mind that, if the trail lead back to say, Saudi Arabia, then with the gutless actions of the last few days still smelling in the corner, we would end up back at square one as per usual.Report as unsuitable
35. Kitty, Edinburgh / 1:03pm 17 Dec 2006
It's time the government had the courage to stand up to the policy of despair which is the methadone programme. Methadone is synthetic heroin and much more addictive and physically damaging than natural heroin. It's just a cute way of giving addicts their fix for free to get them off the crime cycle thus making our communties marginally safer. It's not intended as a means of helping addicts get clean. The irony is that it doesn't even work as a means of stemming the anti-social side effects but makes them worse by encouraging and even creating heroin addiction.Report as unsuitable
36. Sanny, Portugal / 1:06pm 17 Dec 2006
Having read the article and the various comments on it I have to agree first, that the timing shows the NL’s intention is about vote grabbing with little or no concern for the victims of this horrible addiction.
I recall an incident over twenty years ago when Holland had a very relaxed attitude to ‘street drugs’. I was a work assignment in Amsterdam at the time and I was horrified at the number of people, foreigner’s mainly, who were constantly stoned. On leaving my hotel very early one morning I experienced the ultimate horror of having to step over the body of a young man who had died of an overdose. There is not and can never be a justification for legalising this trade.
We desperately need to take a holistic approach to the problem and consider the need of both the victim, for that’s what junkies are, and the public. We need to take advice from medical experts, law enforcement and ex-users, based on their input we need to conduct urgent research into the causes, treatment and prevention of addiction.
Some have mentioned the supply and demand cycle, claiming if there were no demand there would be no supply. Consider the marketing of a new product. The manufacturer doesn’t just put it in a shop or catalogue in the hope that people will buy it. No, the product is “pushed” by advertising and initial low cost deals to generate the demand. Hence the term 'drug pusher'.
When the product is “In Demand” the prices can increase and everybody in the supply chain does well but the guy who does best is the manufacturer. No manufacturer, no supply chain and eventually no demand.
In the Far East you are warned before entering the country that possession of [Dada] Drugs means death. Personally I’m not happy with the death penalty for any crime. However I think we need a new and possibly draconian approach to the problem of drug supply. Some are advocating sentencing people according to their position in the drug supply chain. I would modify this to 25 years for supply reduced to 5 years and early parole if evidence is provided to convict the next man up the chain until we get to the “clean” people who finance this trade. Remove the head and the body will surely die!!Report as unsuitable
37. Bram Seer, All of Scotland / 1:10pm 17 Dec 2006
Cold turkey for Christmas,does this mean that in Scotland they get cold Steak pie for New Year,joking apart,the whole drug problem is really out of control.
It is interesting that even with the presence of the UN forces in Afghanistan, the Afghans et al have produce and exported a greater tonnage of opium this year than ever before.I would suggest in order to stop this deadly trade the World Health Organisation should buy all of the supplies of Heroin on the World market then destroy it,this would work towards completely controlling the market and destroying the dealers.... perhaps we should be thinking with our heads to solve this problem, not force of arms in the end it will be economically and environmentally more sound. It worked well for the Chinese Nation in the late 19th century,it certainly stopped the dealers from running it in from India,who were the dealers? the British government of course.Report as unsuitable
38. nottoobrite / 2:21pm 17 Dec 2006
No. 9. Yes Sir you are on the right track,if the idiot policy makers would come down from there roosts and look at the countries in the world that have a successful drug policy, but these new policies are just a way to get your hand in the goverments bottomless pocket. Singapore got rid of its drug problem, it hung scores of dealers, amid all the publicity it said if you want to do drugs, fine, but not here go to some other country, showing continually commercials on TV drug addicts in conditions that would make anyone vomit. Bring it out in the open, show the ulcers, aids, filth, dispair that these people live in , and remind the government that jail is not a holiday camp but a place where you put people to insure the safety of all citizens of good intent.Report as unsuitable
39. old soldier, Black Isle / 2:31pm 17 Dec 2006
Cure all addiction and all dealers with one bullet eachReport as unsuitable
40. Patrick/Edinburgh, here and there / 3:00pm 17 Dec 2006
As always with a main story from the Scotsman.comthe listings in the comments show me realistic attitudes from the community. Because I read your words of national pride, national pride is a reflection of the communities as a whole. The communities can not be continually disolved by practices that are unjust to the community. Herion use is a deadly force against a community, just as much as the terriost threat Scotland can face. Just as slow, just as sneaky, then with horrible consequences. There can be a systematic appraoch that can be continually adjusted through public policy and practice. It's a chess game against those of addiction, however a deadly one. The philosophical reasonings one can gain will produce a better overall strategy across the board. Looking at herion drug addiction as a chess battle is a good philosophical approach. I am stating the strengths against addiction lie in the communities. Does government wish to support the communites against hard drug addiction? What increments can be applied do defend against heroin addiction?
There has to be an over-all assesment to the point at where Scotland is in it's reference to the history and the metamorphosis of herion addiction and it's use in todays society. That is where one can begin to adjust the problem. Which seems to be the attitude in Scotland is how to adjust the problem.If one were to ask me which increment I would apply first:I would say hit in the welfare state. Making sure that those in the welfare state are subject to drug tests!
Second: Immigration; You have to fight terriorism, is there any doubt who has to be kept out?
Third: Education; continue to teach the kids and adults to speak Gaelic
Your friendPatrickReport as unsuitable
41. Paula / 3:04pm 17 Dec 2006
A common sense idea but lets see if it actually happens.
There is something far wrong in a country that will spend £12m on methadone for druggies yet a poor wee girl has to fight to receive NHS treatment for an illness that was not through her own actions. That £12m would go to treating more worthwhile illnesses rather than being wasted on druggies.Report as unsuitable
42. Martha / 3:20pm 17 Dec 2006
There are pros and cons to every argument about drug addiction, but to me, The Netherlands experiment proves that legalizing drugs and providing them free for addicts simply does not work. Amsterdam is an open sewer at this point in history.
Withdrawal is a long and painful process, and some scientists claim that even those who have successfully fought their way through it are still addicts, just as recovered alcoholics are.
The US approach is to stop it at the borders, which with our large porous borders is a joke. There are very stiff prison sentences for dealers, however, when caught--if they aren't killed by fellow dealers first.
As for the druggies, they manage to prove Darwin's theory of survival of the gittest over and over again. Most of them die decades before their time.
But from a public health perspective, drug use introduces very serious, incurable diseases into the population: Hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS come immediately to mind. There is also the tremendous social waste, and the tax money spent trying to treat and rehabilitate these people.
In spite of all the drug education that is mandatory in public schools here, the drug addiction phenomenon continues unabated. There is some unidentified reason or collection of reasons for it, aside from the obvious reason that criminals make money dealing the poisons.Report as unsuitable
43. nolimits, Canada / 3:53pm 17 Dec 2006
I wonder, just wonder, if any of you above or in Gov't have an addict in their immediate family. PLEASE understand that addicts cannot be forced to quit. It is a decision only they can make. I speak from experience.Alcohol and drug addiction share common themes. Only the addict can make the choice to quit! Period! Support must be in place to make the transition a little easier. It is not easy, to see a son or a daughter caught in the net, and trying to help them out of it. Support, Support, Support. Sooo.... Don't judge untill you've been there and done it.Report as unsuitable
44. mv / 4:04pm 17 Dec 2006
"In a dramatic policy U-turn,"
Hmm, must be an election coming up, prepare for more dramatic u-turns (well as least smokescreens...)Report as unsuitable
45. conservative / 4:21pm 17 Dec 2006
Just empty labour vessels rumbling. Not a clue amongst the lot of them but desperate to hang onto their well-paid jobs.
Drugs are illegal. Jail all pushers and addicts. If they reoffend jail them again for longer. I'll happily pay more taxes for more prisons to keep this filth off our streets.Report as unsuitable
46. siusaidh / 4:35pm 17 Dec 2006
Perhaps instead of getting addicts off herion and onto other drugs, should be avoided and get them to replace herion with therapeutic essential oils and various massage therapies....then at least they'd learn to get healthy again.Just think on how much is spend on pharmacytical drugs each year, when essential oils would work much more efficient and have no damage to the enviroment.Report as unsuitable
47. St Monance, Canada / 4:53pm 17 Dec 2006
Isn't Peterhead Prison the best in the world for its cure rate on addicts? Why not learn from them: if the European court would let you . . .Report as unsuitable
48. Mahem, Land of plenty / 5:07pm 17 Dec 2006
The best movie ever made with regards to heroin addiction - "Train Spotting" Play it on a continuous loop on television and eventually the message will get throughReport as unsuitable
49. AlphaNEIL, UK / 5:53pm 17 Dec 2006
Where do all these drug addicts get money, do they have jobs with investment banks or the Scottish executive? Maybe the last one was a bad example.
Stop giving beggars money on the street. Prosecute criminals that are robbing houses and stores. And finally, get rid of the drugs in prisons. I know we started the opium trade, but why do we STILL have a problem with drug abuse, we are FAR to tolerant of those people, they are getting the money to feed their habit somehow!Report as unsuitable
50. Richard, West Lothian / 6:29pm 17 Dec 2006
I notice Martha your really big in coming down on the supply side but what about the demand side maybe that explains the persistence of the problem.
Until you get rid of the demand then the market is there to be supplied and I can't see demand ever going away. Look what happened during prohibition, drive a market underground into the arms of organized crime.........Not a good outcome.Report as unsuitable
51. Harry Carnie, British Columbia ,Canada. / 6:38pm 17 Dec 2006
#13 Andrew. You are correct. A little glimmer of common sense in all the "rant" of those with their heads up....( aaah..better say, in the sand). No,.. no politician will ever do this.. they maintain the attitude of their voters...even if it is just bloody stupid.Report as unsuitable
52. scotsdoc, NANAIMO BC CANADA / 7:04pm 17 Dec 2006
Cold turkey WILL NOT WORK!!...
Addicts are exhibiting an inherited diathesis. At 76 I will not live long enough to see if my prediction is correct but I have been dealing with drugs since I was a kid in Edinburgh(My mother was a Doctor too). Society needs to change it's attitude to addicts. As a kid, narcotics were fairly easy to come by, as were 'Bromides' and the barbiturates. Kids used to sing 'Honey have a sniff on me.. Honey have a sniff on me' Society back then had a bemused tolerance of addicts and drugs were cheap( today Legal Morphine in Canada is about 50 cents an ampoule - heroin is illegal).
Canada's Army Song book had "Cocaine Bill and Morphine Sue......." as late as the '50's.
Society has changed, prohibition and criminalization have forced up the costs for the addicts who now have a doubled problem addiction and extortionate cost. Addicts have thus deteriorated and the overall drug scene has collapsed into DRUG GANG WARS, SUBVERTED ENFORCEMENT, STONED PROSTITUTES and Glory days for the POLICE, Legal establishment and Prison System. These three latter all flourish on the backs of the poor long suffering addicts.
Education from Kindergarten on and legalization are the only ways forward.Addicts must be held legally responsible for their actions under the influence.
Addicts have now become societies worst HIV and Tuberculosis problem and unless the whole scene is legalized and the criminality of drug use removed I can only see the situation deteriorating further.
YOU CAN LEAD A HORSE TO WATER BUT YOU CANNOT FORCE IT TO DRINK!!Report as unsuitable
53. Sambo, The deep south / 7:11pm 17 Dec 2006
Unbelievable, that out of 5,000,000 people, do the math! for every man woman and child in Scotland 1 out of 1 hundred are on heroin?Report as unsuitable
54. Sambo, The deep south / 7:17pm 17 Dec 2006
Scotland needs to prepare funds to build more prisons, the kids I saw this year on my annual visit are out of control, so how can you talk about independence when your younger generation are running amuck. PRIORITIES!Report as unsuitable
55. Angus Mor, God's Own Island / 7:22pm 17 Dec 2006
Not just heroin Sambo, smack, scag and other other "injectable" and "smokeable" addictive.
But yeah, 1 in 100 of us are addicted to class A illegal drugs.
Good stat huh?Report as unsuitable
56. Angus Mor, God's Own Island / 7:25pm 17 Dec 2006
Sambo
It's the loonie lefty liberals that caused the chaos in our country. They told us not to hit each other, not to hit/smack our kids, not to use draconian discipline methods, to tolerate everybody. To recognise that pedophiles have a mental disease and to also give children the same rights as adults, rights that us Adults had to earn when I was a kid.
The funny thing is, these dogooding loonie lefty liberals are now prisoners in their own homes bacuase of out of control kids etc.Report as unsuitable
57. Big Bri, London / 7:35pm 17 Dec 2006
Can anyone tell me what exactly is the official excuse for our prisons to be awash with drugs (that is no exageration) when common sense tells me that they should be the one place that drugs should never be.
Prison visits are one way that drugs come in - but surely there must be a serious problem with corruption in the prison service.Report as unsuitable
58. Richard, West Lothian / 7:40pm 17 Dec 2006
How many of us are addicted to legal drugs which cause, more death and social misery, and to say different is to deny the obvious.Report as unsuitable
59. mick3, Minnesota, USA / 7:40pm 17 Dec 2006
The worst of the drug problem is that most of them shouldn't be illegal. Aside from the privacy issue, legal drugs would be cheap enough that addicts wouldn't have to resort to crime to support their habit. Many famous people, inclduding the putative father of modern surgery, have been life-long addicts without ruining their own or anyone else's lives. Unfortunately, politicians are more concerned with themselves and their careers than the millions of people whose lives are ruined, not by drugs, but by the war on drugs, originated by US politicians, originally as a race issue against Mexicans.Report as unsuitable
60. Jiimpoo, Tallinn / 7:42pm 17 Dec 2006
No 5 I think you're thinking of Narcan ( naloxone )which has been around for many yearsReport as unsuitable
61. Sanny, Portugal and Glasgow / 7:56pm 17 Dec 2006
Big Bri, LondonI may be wrong on this, fortunately I don’t know much about prisons, but didn’t this government put the prisons into private hands?We need to know how drugs get into prison. If it is by passing from visitors there are two possible solutions I can think of 1/ Glass screened cubicles so there can be no contact between visitor and prisoner. 2/ Abolish prison visiting!If it’s not Visitors then it must be the warders. In which case find them charge then and jail them for a very long time. Random searches on Warders might be a good idea.Report as unsuitable
62. Jiimpoo, Tallinn / 8:02pm 17 Dec 2006
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NarcanReport as unsuitable
63. John Loftus, Limerick / 8:17pm 17 Dec 2006
After reading some of the most ridiculous,narrow-minded,blinkered drivel,about a subject that most of you have little real experience of.I'm shocked that there is very little humanity shown by most of these opinionators.The only person who seems to have a bit of a clue is #43,because he's been there & knows what addiction is about.People take drugs,including alcohol,because they make them feel good.So,no matter what any government does,there will always be a market for them.Locking people up for a long time or executing them doesn't work as a detterent.Many countries have tried this,but illicit drugs means big money.So therefore they will always exist.The biggest dealers are rich businessmen & not the archetypal scumbag,that most of you seem to have in your very narrow minds.They are rarely jailed,as they will always try to save their own skins & stick in those lower down the chain.So the best thing this"government"can do,is stop trying to keep a hold on their addiction to power,with any seemingly"popular"policy promises & really look at real ways to help those with drug addiction problems.And the rest of you heartless souls,we all have problems sometimes,so think twice before you want to kick someone when they are down.Report as unsuitable
64. John Loftus, Limerick / 8:32pm 17 Dec 2006
Sorry scotsdoc,I hadn't read your comment before I wrote my piece.But you too have a decent brain in your head.Those poor girls in Suffolk would not be dead today, if they didn't have to prostitute themselves to get drugs & if we hadn't looked at their problem with a negative attitude.Report as unsuitable
65. Jemma, USA, for now............... / 9:13pm 17 Dec 2006
#7 - Whistle Berries, Marysville, WA, USA / 3:30am 17 Dec 2006 wrote...The 'addicts' and/or alcoholics, need psychiatric intervention to find the underlying cause as to why people ‘need’ to “self-medicate.”
As a psychotherapist I can honestly say looking for "why" addicts/alcoholics use substances is a wast of time. The "why" is because they are addicts/alcoholics. You can spend years on a therapists couch ruminating (navel-contemplating I call it) on WHY...it doesn't change the fact that you are. Why do I have brown eyes? Because my father did. Does that mean that now I know why I can change them to blue? NO! It means I have to accept brown and live with it.
Just like an addict/alcoholic has to accept that life can be an arse-kicker and that substances are not the solution to life's problems. When they can do that they can get clean and sober.
HOW to get clean and sober is the question...treatment centers, self-help groups, churches, whatever it takes.Report as unsuitable
66. drake's drum, North Britain / 9:13pm 17 Dec 2006
John Loftus Limerick: Pish! (In the Jane Austin sense of course). Some people are lucky enough to be rich and stupid - they take drugs because they can't amuse themselves or want to be 'crazy(man)'. Others are poor and stupid, and see drugs as a way out of a boring and unrewarding life (when compared with those they read about in the red tops and see on mong TV).The rest of us are either rich and lucky and have a brain, or are poor, hard working and have a brain.BUT, we all face the danger of our families being destroyed by drug-pushing/using scum/idiots who surround us in this imploding 'best small country' where 1% (try 5 times that probably) are junkies.Death penalty, no sympathy and willingness to see self-inflicted scummery result in a life literally in the gutter. The abstinence message will soon become apparent to the naive taker, and the death penalty a deterrent/solution to the pusher.Goodnight Limerick.Report as unsuitable
67. Cheryl, New York State / 9:21pm 17 Dec 2006
#13, thanks for popping into the Real World for a moment to comment from whatever alternate reality you reside in, because following the scheme you suggest would bring only more trouble and strife.
You want the NHS to provide a highly addictive and destructive substance? Have you thought about the long-term effects of that? NHS costs would skyrocket due to addicts needing more and more heroin to acheive the same effect and eroin destroys your body and mind. Scotland would see NHS costs skyrocket due to the health care costs associated with treating the various ills of addicts. Then there's the economic cost Scotland would pay because people would attempt to work while high, making them far more likely to do very stupid and dangerous things or, at the very least, making a total dog's breakfast of whatever they work on, and the number of people who would not be able to workbecause they were too sick due to chronic heroin use.
Let's not forget what the rest of the world would think of Scotland. Yes, nothing like being seen as the heroin capital of the world to improve your image on the world stage.
I cannot see where you'd get the idea crime would go down. Yes, you'd eliminate dealers. Theft would not go down, as addicts who need their fix will do what they need to do to get it, nor would prostitution to any real degree. There are other drugs out there women are hooked on and sell their bodies to support their habit. The only change in crime you'd see would be an increase in heroin-related crimes.
"Without drug pushers, the number of new addicts each year will steadily fall."
The NHS would take the place of the drug dealer on the corner, so there would still be a dealer and if it's much more readily avaliable, you're going to see more people doing heroin.
No politician with sense would ever support legalizing heroin (so no surprise it's been proposed by the current government). The damage to Scotland such a thing would cause greatly outweighs any theoretical benefits.
If you're going to legalize heroin, you should legalize all other drugs which drive addicts to do pretty much anything to support their habit. Thinking of a Scotland where cocaine, heroin, and pot are all legal, to name only three, fills me with horror.Report as unsuitable
68. Tam the Bam, Neverland / 9:52pm 17 Dec 2006
Although some heroin addicts come from middle class or upper class families, the vast majority come from poor or deprived areas. How many addicts are there is Morningside as compared to Wester Hailes? Drug addiction the world over is a problem associated with poverty. Get rid of poverty and you'll go a long way to getting rid of addiction.Report as unsuitable
69. Angus Mor, God's Own Island / 10:06pm 17 Dec 2006
I don't think Morningside addicts would admit to having a problem. Too posh for that!Report as unsuitable
70. Rabhairt, Cannons Creek Australia / 10:16pm 17 Dec 2006
Heroin is the drug of Satan. It does not know colour , race, social standing or age. the Government authorities have to concentrate on the MR BIGS who are making the large profits and can afford to pay "officials" off. Last week , here in the State of Victoria the last of seven detectives, members of the special crimes unit were sent to prison for up to seven years for drug dealing; this is a WORLD PROBLEM and is destroying lives, billions have been spent on a uselss war in Iraq, heroin is the product of only a few countries and a trade boycot on them would not be a bad start.Report as unsuitable
71. judas, midlothian / 10:46pm 17 Dec 2006
Neil McKeganey is a researcher who has never treated a drug addict in his life. What makes him an expert on the right kind of treatment? If the government were really being brave instead of reacting to newspaper headlines and McKeganey's ravings they would introduce comsumption rooms and heroin perscribing. They are doing it down south but our lot are cowards. They pander to the press. They are talking bollocks now. You only have to look at the USA where they adopted a zero tolerance approach. IT DONT WORK!!!!!Report as unsuitable
72. Sanny, Portugal and Glasgow / 11:04pm 17 Dec 2006
63. John Loftus, Limerick:
Before you slag of every poster perhaps you should have the courtesy to read their contribution.
For instance, if you read my post #36, in the third paragraph I identify the addict as a victim and propose a holistic approach to treatment or control. The remainder of this contribution is about a method to get at the men in pinstriped suits who are clean and pillars of society; but are the main benefactors of the trade in drugs. In a later post @ #61 I address the problem in prisons.
I do not claim to be an expert nor do any of the other posters we simply suggest what we believe to be commonsense approaches to a difficult problem.Report as unsuitable
73. NorT, Edinburgh / 11:05pm 17 Dec 2006
The war on drugs is lost. Legalise them like tobacco and alcohol. This would save millions in enforcements costs, millions in prisons places, ensure purity of supply and they could be taxed. Also as the druggies could get them over the counter using a smart card the price could be controlled to a reasonabvble level and the dealers would be put out of business overnight.However no government is brave enough to undertake this step.Report as unsuitable
74. Independant, Anna Quebec / 11:06pm 17 Dec 2006
Very complicated problem this. For those of you who advocate a drastic policy, I suggest you go to an open AA meeting or Narcotics Anonymous meeting.
Some people think that 10% of the population are addictive personalities. So if that is true all layers of society are liable to be affected. So priests, doctors, judges - all can be addicted. I guess the poor are more evident because they don't have the money to hide it. So most of the people on this discussion today must have at least one relative who is an addict. So think about it. Would your solution help your Mom if she had an alcohol, cocaine, heroin or sleeping pill addiction?
In my family, it was my two parents with an addiction to alcohol. Call it a disease, an addiction, what you will, the effects are devastating to families, employers and society.
A little compassion please, especially for the families who see their members go down the drain. You don't have to shoot the addicts, they're slowly killing themselves.Report as unsuitable
75. Jules, Hampshire / 11:10pm 17 Dec 2006
Iam an addictions counsellor and I wish the answer to substance addiction was as simple as so many of you think it is. Every addict/alcoholic is an individual and they each respond to treatment in their individual ways. I've seen people do surprisingly well and others do surprisingly badly. Some will do well with cold turkey, some will stay on methadone for years and others will respond well to a Subutex detox. We need a range of treatments to be available to meet the needs of the individual.
As a society the UK's biggest substance misuse problem is still alcohol; 8 million problem drinkers as opposed to approx 300 000 problem drug users (UK figures). Need I remind you that alcohol is, and will probably always be, legal in this country.If the answer really is as simple as some of you think then let me know, it will make my job a lot easier!Report as unsuitable
76. Sanny, Portugal and Glasgow / 11:31pm 17 Dec 2006
71. judas, Midlothian:From results thus far it would seem that those “experts” are not having much success despite their efforts. This would seem to suggest that they are not on the right track and need to consider other approaches.
You suggestion has a touch of lunacy about it I suggest you read again this post 67. Cheryl, New York State:
I think I read in my Science Magazine some time ago that they had identified a drug that would prevent Heroin from having any effect and obviate the need for a “fix”. It could have been Coke I’m not sure. I do believe that the greedy pharmaceutical world could be encouraged to find such a treatment if the prize was big enough.
In the mean time we should try to control the supply side. It may not be as difficult as you imagine. If we were to advise poppy growing countries that we would give them aid or buy their crops at a price that equaled what the farmer gets for the poppy extract or alternatively we would bomb them with Agent Orange which would destroy the poppies. This would make a difference from dropping HE and blowing them to pieces.It’s not rocket science; I’m sure we could create a herbicide that only affected the poppy and was otherwise relatively safe.Report as unsuitable
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