BBC: Why is heroin killing so many people?

[pavarotti1980]

Does it matter?

I was just curious as to how many you refer to.

A good pharmacy always makes sure that the person has swallowed the methadone and offers a drink to wash it down afterwards.

A good pharmacy will ensure they wash it down. Not every pharmacy does methadone dispensing so they ones who do will be well versed in the cup of water. A good addict will wash it down then go and chuck it back up round the corner

Also they will sell their weekend doses as well

 

[yorkyexile]

UK drugs policy is absolute joke to be honest. The countries who've reformed in recent years have seen massive positive changes yet our government is too stubborn and scared to stick its head above the parapet.

They're not even"radical" solutions, just common sense.

Common sense like don`t put shite that doesnt belong there in your body in the first place you mean?

 

[Keawyeds]

may be bring back the death penalty for smackheads. that would save some money and get rid of the problem.

Oh great. You said the DP words again.

Seriously though, I'd rather have the DP for suppliers. They're the ones making it happen effectively

 

[Az*]

I've had first hand experience of this via numerous friends and a couple of cousins, one of the main reasons I gto of Sunderland in the first place was because of what that drug was doing to those I had grown up with. I would say 90% of the kids I grew up with ended up on this or crack, which I believe is harder hitting than heroin fwiw, and have been on it since wether in jail or on the streets.

It really is incredible how fast it will fuck people up, all of them at some point got themselves clean but within weeks were back on it. One of the hardest obstacles they face is peer pressure really, they get off the shit but cannot shake off the group of people they take it with. Round and round they go....

I have no answers to it, maybe making it safer will help. I dunno. One thing I will say though is that imo crack is by far the biggest issue I've seen. It makes heroin look like a mild drug and just gets ever more popular.

 

[Cockney Mackem]

Oh great. You said the DP words again.

Seriously though, I'd rather have the DP for suppliers. They're the ones making it happen effectively

Imagine if clean heroin was available on prescription from the doctor, on condition of being part of a rehab programme, and some of the world's most brutal and powerful gangsters no longer had a revenue stream to justify the cost, risk and trouble of smuggling heroin? Heroin it was harder to get anyway because world governments took control of the poppy crops?

 

[Lonz]

Common sense like don`t put shite that doesnt belong there in your body in the first place you mean?

As I mentioned earlier, a lot of people become dependent on milder and legally obtained prescription opiates after surgeries for example. Poor management of the prescription can mean that a lot of people are forced to go cold-turkey and to combat this they turn to the easily accessible stronger stuff like heroin.

It's not uncommon for people to turn to them in a form of self-medication during mental health issues. Another stigma that is placed on society as a whole at the moment.

There are of course people who are just wanting to get their rocks off but I'm of the opinion that I'd rather help those who are wanting and needing help. Those who don't want help are going to cost us anyway whatever we do.

 

[Deleted member 22590]

Give them heroin and there will be far less acquisitive crime. No brainer.

How much are you giving them? Most that I know when you ask how many bags they're doing, say as many as I can get. 4/5 a day is about average but if they have a good score, they'll do as many as they can buy.
I think this is what people don't understand, a lot of these people do it because they just love heroin and don't have the attitude towards their addiction that many believe.

 

[super noodles]

Common sense like don`t put shite that doesnt belong there in your body in the first place you mean?

People make bad decisions all the time. Almost every adult has had a drink at least once. If we have a way to help addicts we should do it

 

[Keawyeds]

Imagine if clean heroin was available on prescription from the doctor, on condition of being part of a rehab programme, and some of the world's most brutal and powerful gangsters no longer had a revenue stream to justify the cost, risk and trouble of smuggling heroin? Heroin it was harder to get anyway because world governments took control of the poppy crops?

Interesting theory... But then where do you stop?
There'll always be something else.

Just look at Spice

 

[Cockney Mackem]

As I mentioned earlier, a lot of people become dependent on milder and legally obtained prescription opiates after surgeries for example. Poor management of the prescription can mean that a lot of people are forced to go cold-turkey and to combat this they turn to the easily accessible stronger stuff like heroin.

It's not uncommon for people to turn to them in a form of self-medication during mental health issues. Another stigma that is placed on society as a whole at the moment.

There are of course people who are just wanting to get their rocks off but I'm of the opinion that I'd rather help those who are wanting and needing help. Those who don't want help are going to cost us anyway whatever we do.

For this reason, Prince is dead and Nickelback are still alive

 

[MickeyV]

I don't think you understand the issue enough to comment if you think it's easy for people to "just give it up". Clearly, the idea is that it wouldn't be "freely" available in the sense that you could just walk in and get some whenever you fancied. You would, however, get a clean but managed dose and be supervised by a health professional.

And that clinic will manage the dose downwards. The Police Commissioner for the Durham Force was on Radio 4 yesterday talking about the Swiss model which seems to achieve this.

On a human level, people are dying because of lack of purity. They're also getting addicted to things like prescription opiates and moving on to harder stuff because they're dependent and heroin is easier to come by than your typical codeine prescription.

It's also bloody expensive to combat. Why not legalise and regulate it? That way you can tax and manage the purity and take the money out of the criminal organisations' hands?

As with all drugs. Illegal stuff makes money for criminal organisations The Mafia was just a collection of neighbourhood gangs in the States before Prohibution, which made them a de facto massive corporation that never pays a penny in tax. Also, as @theinediblebulk said, it makes it harder for the crooks to expand the market.
Iirc, Portugal decriminalised all drugs ten years ago, and addicts were treated as patients rather than criminals.
I know a lot of addicts are useless wasters, but the stark choice is to try to straighten them out or suffer the burglaries, muggings and frauds that fund the system we have now.

 

[Harry Angstrom]

I wouldn't bring back the death penalty for any crime.

If I'm not okay with hanging Dave the baby noncing cannibal I'm not going to be okay with hanging an addict.

It was just a suggestion.

Oh great. You said the DP words again.

Seriously though, I'd rather have the DP for suppliers. They're the ones making it happen effectively

They would get it as well

 

[GK]

Give it up then? The problem is, if it's so easily available for free every day there's absolutely no incentive at all to give up.

Theoretical nonsense. Its like the examples of the rest of the world have passed you by.

 

[Sir Lancelot]

I was just curious as to how many you refer to.

A good pharmacy will ensure they wash it down. Not every pharmacy does methadone dispensing so they ones who do will be well versed in the cup of water. A good addict will wash it down then go and chuck it back up round the corner

Also they will sell their weekend doses as well

I realise that you are just trying to make me feel special by constantly picking up on my posts, but be a good lad and bog off, will you? There are other posters on this site that you can troll.

 

[theinediblebulk]

Interesting theory... But then where do you stop?
There'll always be something else.

Just look at Spice

How did Spice come about and get a hold. That's right, from cannabis being illegal. That shit was being marketed as a synthetic cannabanoid when it was nothing of the sort. If weed had been legal no-one would give a fuck about the synthetic shite as they'd have access to the real stuff. Strangely enough, if you look at Holland again, they never developed a Spice problem on a scale like ours. Wonder if the fact you can buy weed legally had owt to do with it.

 

[GK]

They are getting a dose of medical grade heroin daily just by going...at a cost of 15k a year. Plus of course dole money, housing benefit and all.the other miriad of benefits no doubt available
Why should I pull my pods off everyday to pay for those wankers. ...15k is around about what I paid in tax and ni last year. So my contribution to the uk is effectively shot up some druggies arm....maybe cheaper hiring hitmen

Crime lowers. Society is happier.

Sorted.

 

[Frijj]

If there was ever a health intervention that should have as little input from the general public as possible it has to be substance misuse.

I mean I’d welcome it but attitudes need to change - it is at the moment one of anger and misunderstanding

 

[Boz33]

So it would be a good idea to try get them off it then? As I said, most (not all, I agree) don't want to be addicted but find it difficult to get the help they need to do get off it. £15k a year is small fry when you take into account the social and economic costs associated with the problem. See it as an investment. Your contribution to the "druggies" habit is an attempt to improve the costly problem. All other avenues have worked. I can understand why people would automatically have a similar opinion on the matter as you but only before they've really thought about it pragmatically. I don't think you appreciate the vicious cycle that people go through.

And if they never come off it? What incentive is there to stop it's free after all? Also if there's just 1 hit a day what's to say they don't want 2 or 3 or 4 hits a day, where they going to get the other hits or the money for them? I assume we up the times we let them get free hits or the crimes won't lessen
If say we did take this model up do we do the same for coke, alcohol even fags. They are all highly.addictivewhat makes skagheads any less needy than the other groups?

 

[pavarotti1980]

I realise that you are just trying to make me feel special by constantly picking up on my posts, but be a good lad and bog off, will you? There are other posters on this site that you can troll.

Im not trolling i am genuinely asking. Its the post not the poster remember!

If you dont accept my point regarding chuckign up methadone then you are naive

 

[Frijj]

And if they never come off it? What incentive is there to stop it's free after all? Also if there's just 1 hit a day what's to say they don't want 2 or 3 or 4 hits a day, where they going to get the other hits or the money for them? I assume we up the times we let them get free hits or the crimes won't lessen
If say we did take this model up do we do the same for coke, alcohol even fags. They are all highly.addictivewhat makes skagheads any less needy than the other groups?

I really think you need to take all emotion and morals out of it and look at it first as an economic problem

A group of people exist who cost society £X.

If have an intervention that could reduce those costs by X% and produce a net benefit £ to the state, should we not do it?

I can see why people find it hard to have any sympathy for habitual substance misusers but they exist, they will exist and they will cost the state money if not managed properly.

It might be unpalatable to consider spending money on them but it is with the intention of lowering costs overall.