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| Originally Posted by DVR Almost all of the hard drug users I know have gone down the same path, some of them had very good jobs etc, they all " could handle it" and "stop anytime they wanted" but they couldnt , and whats left is a person that will do anything for a fix, and if thats stealing from family or knocking a granny on the head than thats what they do. |
I think legalising all drugs is the way forward to cut crime. Heroin addicts rob from grannies and steal cars because they cannot get access to timely and effective drug rehabilitation even when they desperately want to stop. If heroin was legalised and instead of being given methadone, addicts were given legal, safely produced heroin, it would slash the drug crime in this country. Heroin is actually an extremely cheap drug to produce, compared to the costs of crime and overcrowded prisons. Then we could get these people back to living a constructive life again.
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| Originally Posted by nickb But they do these things BECAUSE the drugs they use are illegal. |
No, they do it because they are desperate and in withdrawal, which would not happen if Diamorphine was readily available on script for addicts but with a view to getting them onto drug rehabilitation programmes.
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| Originally Posted by nickb Pharmaceutical diamorphine (heroin) does little damage to the body and users can live perfectly normal lives. What does the damage is the crap that street smack gets cut with and the scumbags that addicts have to do business with in order to satisfy their addiction. |
That's completely incorrect - diamorphine causes cognitive impairment with long term use, as well as various organ damage and a whole range of debilitating side effects, same as all opioids. It's brain rotting stuff alright. Which is why if it was legalised for addiction, all addicts should be placed onto rehabilitation programmes. The only reason many addicts keep taking it is because they cannot manage withdrawal on their own and they have to wait (in some areas) for years to get onto supervised detoxification. The Government recognised this some time ago and put in place a target of two weeks from an addict asking for medical help to them going onto detox but the resources are not there, hence robbing and other criminal activities continue.
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| Originally Posted by DVR Again I agree with you, but how do you go about it, legalise everything so they can shoot up in public without getting nicked, so they can sit outside your house or mine and leave dirty needles by your gate? There are those that want help and there are those that have no intention of getting any form of help, I feel very sorry for the former but dont want the latter anywhere near my my house, my kids or my grandkids. |
This is all conjecture borne out of lack of understanding. If certain drugs were legalised and administered in a controlled fashion in conjunction with a longer term goal of drug rehabilitation, the days of seeing junkies hitting up in public would be long gone.
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| Originally Posted by DVR As a ps: with the government refusing to treat , smokers, alchaholics and the obese as they are self inflicted , do you really think they will do anything for drug addicts. |
Drug addiction causes severe physical dependence and requires medical supervision to facilitate SAFE detoxification. This is a cheaper and much preferable option than the current climate of drug-related crimes. The tax payer is already paying for the drug problem through crime, overcrowded prisons, judicial/punitive systems, violence/overdoses/medical treatment.