The unwinnable war on drugs.

Britain's war on drugs 'unwinnable', says Nick Clegg

Deputy Prime Minister says Liberal Democrats will publish alternative strategy this year after completing study of decriminalisation in Uruguay and some US states

Nick Clegg has said that the war on drugs is "unwinnable" and that Britain must end the "conspiracy of silence" surrounding the issue.
The Deputy Prime Minister said that the Liberal Democrats will publish an alternative strategy this year after completing a study of the impact of decriminalisation of marijuana in Uruguay and some US states.
Mr Clegg, while stopping short of calling for full decriminalisation, favours a health-based approach to treating drug users.
He told the BBC that for too long politicians have refused to consider alternatives to the war on drugs because it is "all too controversial".
"If you are anti-drugs, you should be pro-reform," he told the BBC.

During a visit to Colombia he said that the war on drugs has led to "terrible conflict" and cost tens of thousands of lives.
Liberal Democrat calls for a Royal Commission to investigate Britain's drug policy have been rejected by the Conservatives.
Mr Clegg told The Sun newspaper that the war on drugs is ultimately "unwinnable".

100 years of the war on drugs

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16681673




In my view we should start treating drugs as a medical problem and not a criminal one. Only dealers should be criminalized

For the harder drugs like heroin I would set up clinics, where addicts would be given under supervision free drugs. This would reduce crime and the need for high policing levels, as well as bringing people in from the fringes of society and hopefully helping them to wean off their addiction with proper help and support.

There are many different kind of treatments out there for drug abuse, so why are we still throwing people in jail, when it clearly dosn,t work. ?

 

What do we do about the people who have no intention of coming off drugs?

 

That depends on what kind of drugs.

For cannabis users I would set up cafes/designated areas etc.

For Heroin clinics.

 

The ones that damage society are the ones we would have to wean people off...slightly confused by the fact that the most damaging(when all is taken into account) is almost certainly alchohol.
Everything else could be contained within appropriate areas and still illegal to carry on the street.

 

You have to remember that for most of the lawmakers and polititians, alcohol is their drug of choice.

 

Cannabis isn't a dangerous drug though. I don't see the need to wean anyone off that to be honest.

Other drugs that can cause the user to be disruptive or threatening are different, and I include alcohol in that.

 

cannabis is not addictive,,it is the tobbacco that is addictive

 

All drugs have the potential for harm of some sort
,prescription drugs included.

Cannabis causes pyschotic issues(long and short term) on to varying degree's on most people..
Some are nothing much to worry about,..but i know /have known plenty of people who have serious mental health issues through Cannibis/marajuana alone.
Add in the fact that most people use tobacco as the method of delivery ...
I say this as a daily user.

Of course none of the above comes anywhere near to the damage alchohol causes...
But if we're having this discussion we've got to be truthful about all effects/side effects of all drugs.

 

Maybe we should stop calling it a "war" on drugs.
It's not a war, we're not fighting we're supposed to be helping people, we should be all on the same side. Describing it as a war just creates an enemy and a Us vs Them mentality. Just our government loving to call issues "wars" (war on terror etc).. and when was the last time we won any of them.

 

Same as that^^

I think I read somewhere that in Ireland Alcohol can be attributed to around 33k deaths per year. I,m sure Scotland would have very similar stats...

On a side note if Scotland became independent and decrminalised cannabis, I think this would massively improve Scotlands income from both tax and increase in tourists visiting Scotland for a legal puff.

 

I've been smoking cannabis for roughly 9 years now. Have a spliff once a day, sometimes twice or at a push 3 times depending on how stressed/bored I am. It's never caused me any medical impairment, side effects or illness. Once had a bad trip when I was 16 but that can happen :smiley-laughing002: I've no intention of stopping for the foreseeable future anyway. I wouldn't say I'm necessarily an addict, I can certainly go for a good 2 or 3 days without touching it but after a good few days I usually start to get a bit temperamental. I honestly believe I could quite no problem but as I've said I don't want to as I enjoy it and it's never caused me any harm whatsoever.

Hearing MPs talking about the "war on drugs" is pretty hypocritical imo. The amount of them that probably like their cocaine or whatever at the odd function would definitely surprise a lot of people.

Cannabis is totally different to Heroin though, and focusing solely on that then I agree with the idea of clinics being set up to help wean people off it, along with similar drugs. Was this idea not tried in Wales? Or was suggested anyway?

 

That's a good point, the tobacco is the issue in that respect.

 

Actually there are more and more studies being published that are disproving that cannabis can lead to mental health issues and most recent studies actually show that cannabis can be better for mental health patients than pharmacy

 

I think in Edinburgh they possibly tested this clinic idea for heroin user were they had a safe environment to get high along with medical professional on site in case anyone overdosed and also to administer the drug

 

And what one can you tax....well look at that its the legal one.
The government is so full of * *.

 

There is an argument for quite a lot of those in yellow and orange to be decriminalised and legalised, if tobacco and alcohol are in the 'orange' bracket and the likes of weed/ecstasy etc... aren't then there needs to be a good debate on it.

Its time we had it in the whole of the UK. Im not talking about making heroin readily available from the government, clinics need to be set up for the 'red' drugs to help people not discriminate against them.

The war on drugs can be helped by tackling the root source of the problem, that is the suppliers or the dealers, the big guys in the food chain. Regulate the industry, make it that bit safer, cut out the middle men and make money from it. Billions could be made in revenue.

The fact is if people want drugs they can get them, its not that difficult and ultimately it won't really change. Shift the emphasis on tackling the war on drugs from the dealers to making it safer for those that do use them.

 

Here is something I found about this^^^


HEROIN CLINICS ON NHS; Tees drug team backs scheme.

A CONTROVERSIAL pilot programme giving free drugs to heroin addicts in Darlington has been backed by Teesside drug teams.

The four-year trial, which has also taken place in London and Brighton, has seen millions of pounds worth of heroin handed out to users on prescription to inject themselves at NHS clinics. It is hoped the heroin "shooting galleries" will stop users funding their habits through crime.

But some critics have likened it to giving alcoholics whisky.

Others have complained that the NHS is forking out pounds 15,000 a year per user at a time when Alzheimer's patients are being denied much cheaper drugs.

The scheme has also sparked controversy because it makes no attempt to wean addicts off the drug.

Today drug action teams on Teesside gave their support to plans to create more pilot programmes as they say the "shooting galleries" work well as a last resort, although there are no plans at this stage to offer similar services elsewhere in the region.

Tina Williams, manager of Bridges drug and alcohol support group in Stockton, said she would welcome a similar scheme on Teesside for people who cannot get well any other way.

"People on methadone, many of them use (heroin) on top of their medication. A lot of users tell us methadone does not hit the right receptors for them.

"If all else has failed this is a good choice. "They have to go into a centre to do it so it would be safer for the community because there would be less needles and things on the street and less of a drugs market.

"But we would like to see more reduction programmes."

David Jackson, Safer Middlesbrough Partnership manager, said they would support plans to set up more pilot schemes but said they would not see diamorphine (the clinical name for heroin) prescribing as a way to help everyone.

"Results have shown the pilot scheme has been very effective with people more entrenched in drug misuse but it does not need to be used for everyone.

"We already have good drug services." The National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA) has clarified that, contrary to a story in the national press, it is not calling for a nationwide roll-out of the programme but is supporting recommendations for further demonstration sites.

Paul Hayes, NTA chief executive, said: "No one is suggesting that this should be the frontline treatment for heroin addiction.

"Heroin has been available on prescription since the 1920s to a very limited number of addicts, and these pilots are simply to explore whether controlled prescribing of injectable heroin will be effective in overcoming their problems, minimizing the harm to the public, reducing crime, and cost effective for the taxpayer."
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/HEROIN+CLINICS+ON+NHS;+Tees+drug+team+backs+scheme.-a0207938746

 

"War on drugs"

 

Ideally we'd start with a clean slate...
Or at least include legal stuff in the debate.
Kind of daft trying to have grown up debates about these issues while a big elephant (alchohol) sits in the corner.

Britain for some reason seems to be a binge culture compared
To most other countries...
Not sure why

 

Another article I found on clinics for heroin users

Will giving drug users what they want bring relief to the rest of us? The success of a scheme in which North East drug addicts were given heroin in a scheme funded by taxpayers could mean a change in how we treat users. Mike Kelly reports.

THE stark image of addicts injecting themselves with heroin can be relied upon to spark public outrage. So when it was revealed that users were doing just that as part of a Government-backed scheme, the news was sure to spark controversy.

In a four-year trial, millions of pounds worth of heroin was handed out at NHS clinics in a bid to stop drug addicts funding their habits through crime.

And the North East has been at the forefront of the project, with users from Darlington in County Durham among 127 taking part in a pilot scheme designed to help treat the most hardened addicts.

In Darlington, 45 addicts took part in the scheme supervised by the Tees, Esk and Wear Valley NHS Foundation Trust. Working with the National Addiction Centre, the scheme began there in September 2006 after the group was selected from patients for whom normal treatment had failed.

During the trials a third of them were given the heroin substitute methadone orally, another third injected methadone under supervision while the remainder injected themselves with diamorphine - unadulterated heroin - imported from Switzerland. They were also given psychological support and help with their housing and social needs.

For Dr Soraya Mayet, the principal investigator on the scheme in the North East, the region's participation was a source of great pride. "We're at the forefront of research not just in the UK but the rest of the world and it's great that we're represented in this way," she said.

The national results - which also in-cluded groups in Brighton and London - showed addicts in all three groups cut the amount of heroin they obtained illegally from street dealers substantially, with 20% of them ending up not using street heroin at all.

The average spend dropped from pounds 300 to pounds 50 a week over the course of the scheme.

Most importantly, the amount of crime the group admitted to committing dropped by more than a third, from 1,731 incidents to 547. This figure will be of great interest to police as research suggests that between a half and two thirds of all UK crime is drug-related.

Dr Mayet said: "We have turned people's lives around. One guy's whole life had revolved around trying to get drugs. He was in and out of prison and had no access to his kids.

"Now he has stopped using, he has secure accommodation sorted out, he is looking to go on training courses for work and he now has access to his children."

The results of the Randomised Injectable Opioid Treatment Trial (RIOTT) were made public yesterday at a news conference at the Royal College of Physicians in London.

It was revealed the cost of the programme worked out at about pounds 15,000 a year for each person - three times more expensive than other treatments.

But research shows drug users steal thousands of pounds worth of property to fund their habit while it costs around pounds 45,000 a year to imprison those caught.

Whether the scheme is rolled out across the country is up to the Government.

In Dr Mayet's mind, there is no question as to what the decision should be.

She said: "I would definitely roll it out across the country in supervised, specialist clinics which are able to manage this highly complex form of addiction."

In all there are 150,000 registered addicts in the UK and an estimated 100,000 unregistered.

Of those no more than 5% fall into the category of the chronic users who, until now, have been viewed as almost beyond help. Paul Hayes, of the National Treatment Agency, which helped fund the programme on behalf of the Government, said: "No-one is suggesting that this should be the frontline treatment for heroin addiction.

"Heroin has been available on prescription since the 1920s to a very limited number of addicts, and these pilots are simply to explore whether controlled prescribing heroin will be effective in overcoming their problems."

CONSIDER ALL OPTIONS, SAYS SELF WRITING yesterday, novelist and former heroin addict Will Self, pictured, argues that the scheme deserves investigation.

He said: "Our drug policy isn't working. It doesn't stop kids trying drugs, it doesn't stop others becoming addicts and it certainly doesn't stop the public becoming the victims of drug-related crime.

"We should consider all options, no matter how outrageous."
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Will+...ring+relief+to+the+rest+of+us?...-a0207852960