|
 veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,504
|
 [UK] Drug addicts in London get heroin prescribed by NHS 
#14694848 - 06/30/11 12:10 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
|
|
Drug addicts in London get heroin prescribed by NHS
July 30, 2011 - BBC
Drug addicts are being prescribed heroin on the NHS across London, a BBC investigation has revealed.
There has been a long-running public debate about whether addicts should be widely offered the drug.
Supporters say prescribing diamorphine - pure heroin - stops them committing crime to feed their habit.
They argue a regular supply of pure heroin means addicts can build a stable life and find employment.
In January, Health Minister Anne Milton told Parliament: "The Drugs Strategy sets out the coalition government's commitment to continue to examine the role of diamorphine prescribing for the small number who may benefit.
"We will set out plans in due course."
But the BBC has used Freedom of Information requests to all of London's primary care trusts to establish that heroin is already being prescribed across the city - and not just in medical trials.
In exceptional cases, doctors can already gain special approval from the Home Office to issue heroin to addicts.
In the past three years almost 120 addicts have been provided with heroin in this way in London and it was prescribed in 10 of the city's 32 boroughs.
The BBC has learned doctors even have the power to prescribe cocaine, although this is rare.
Some people said they were disappointed with the news.
Former Conservative frontbencher Ann Widdecombe said: "My concern about giving heroin to addicts is you are not tackling the route cause of their problems.
"You don't get someone off drugs by giving them drugs.
"You remove the danger of dirty needles - but not the addiction."
'Costs huge amounts'
Dr Adrian Rogers, a retired GP, said he believed an addict's addiction should never be maintained "in any shape or form".
"The only thing you should offer is detoxification," he said.
"Drugs prevention has grown into a massive industry - costing the taxpayer huge amounts."
He added: "I feel terribly sorry for addicts, but I don't believe they should have drugs provided by the taxpayer."
It costs the NHS about £14,000 to maintain an addict on heroin for a year.
Supporters of heroin prescription say this is dwarfed by the cost of crime users might otherwise commit. Experts have estimated an addict spends £45,000-a-year on average on street heroin.
In 2000, Pauline Holcroft's daughter Rachel Whitear died at the age of 21 from a heroin overdose.
The case hit the headlines when her parents released photographs of the dead student to warn others.
Mrs Holcroft said she "had no idea" that heroin was being prescribed to addicts.
She said: "I thought they could only prescribe methadone.
"It seems to me this has been kept quiet.
"When Rachel's case became public we went to see see clinics [shooting galleries] in Amsterdam - I didn't think it happened here too."
Mrs Holcroft said she supported the idea.
She said: "If my daughter had to use heroin I'd have preferred it in hospital, supervised properly along with a programme to get her off it. I can only see it as helpful.
"Methadone [the most common heroin substitute] does not seem to help.
"In many cases people prescribed methadone go and buy heroin anyway."
Mrs Holcroft added: "I wish Rachel had been given that opportunity."
Addicts prescribed heroin must take it under medical supervision several times a day.
The BBC asked every NHS primary care trust in London to reveal how many of the addicts taking prescribed heroin became drug-free, compared to those taking methadone.
Almost all of the bodies claimed this was impossible because of the way the figures are recorded.
But Brent Shared Care Prescribing Team, which treats addicts in the boroughs of Brent, Westminster, Hammersmith, Barnet, Kensington and Chelsea, Ealing, Harrow, Camden and Islington, did reply fully.
In the last three years it prescribed 466 addicts with methadone. Not one was discharged drug-free.
'Focus on recovery'
Over the same period, 48 people were issued with heroin. Six kicked the habit - a 12.5% success rate.
NHS North West London, which presides over the team, refused to comment.
But Dr Costas Agath, a Westminster-based practitioner who prescribes heroin to addicts, said: "When people withdraw from heroin they're in a very bad state.
They sweat, throw up, have muscle cramps and diarrhoea - the last thing they can do is focus on recovery.
"The medication helps them regain control over their body."
He continued: "If people don't have these symptoms they can see the way forward more clearly.
"They see the importance of good relationships or employment.
"It helps them realise life is not just about drugs - it's about a sunny day, lying in the grass with someone you love."
The charity DrugScope said prescribing heroin was useful in serious cases.
Chief executive Martin Barnes said: "It can stabilise someone's drug use, achieve positive health outcomes and reduce crime.
"It can put someone on the path to becoming drug-free."
He added: "This is not a heroin free-for-all."
The Department of Health said its position had not changed since the minister's January statement.
|
 Darwin23
INFJ
 
Registered: 10/08/10
Posts: 3,282
Loc: United States 
Last seen: 12 days, 16 hours
|
Re: [UK] Drug addicts in London get heroin prescribed by NHS [Re: veggie]
#14694975 - 06/30/11 12:53 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
|
|
It will certainly decrease crime. It costs $20,250 a year to provide addicts with heroin while it costs $30,000 a year to put them in prison. I'm all for this program.
--------------------
Take a look at my journal
|
Konyap
Registered: 06/30/07
Posts: 33,945
Loc: Planet Piss
Last seen: 4 years, 5 months
|
Re: [UK] Drug addicts in London get heroin prescribed by NHS [Re: Darwin23]
#14695032 - 06/30/11 01:04 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
|
|
if people wanna kill themselves they're goin to do it anyway, better everyone gets the right aid.
|
lacma50
Registered: 03/13/09
Posts: 1,886
Last seen: 1 year, 4 months
|
Re: [UK] Drug addicts in London get heroin prescribed by NHS [Re: Konyap]
#14695135 - 06/30/11 01:30 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
|
|
I fully support this and hopes it becomes a more widespread option to those suffering from addiction. If they are using this program it seems they're more likely to find a stable job and benefit society. If they do this they would also be paying taxes and wouldn't run the risks of injecting adulterants found in their supply.
--------------------
"Any rational person changes their mind when confronted with new evidence."
|
xthrx
Stranger
Registered: 04/29/09
Posts: 1,538
Last seen: 14 hours, 35 minutes
|
Re: [UK] Drug addicts in London get heroin prescribed by NHS [Re: lacma50]
#14695394 - 06/30/11 02:44 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
|
|
Very very good points lacman
|
Diacetylmentlegen
Gentleman
Registered: 06/13/10
Posts: 267
Loc: Ireland 
Last seen: 11 years, 9 months
|
Re: [UK] Drug addicts in London get heroin prescribed by NHS [Re: xthrx]
#14695853 - 06/30/11 07:15 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
|
|
Here's a bizarre idea:
How about we legalize and regulate heroin... so people can BUY it... with money from their JOBS! 
Absurd, I know! But think about it!
I don't know what all the brew-ha-ha is about a substance that's largely benign and less addictive than nicotine anyway. Oh no, not heroin... next they'll be addicted hard stuff like sugar.
--------------------
"When I recall it and when I recall various other symptoms... I think the simplest explanation is... that I had these experiences, that they were real... and that they took place outside time." - Christopher Mayhew
|
Toe_Jam
Bluefoot Bandit
Registered: 04/15/10
Posts: 3,693
Loc: Around some corner...
|
Re: [UK] Drug addicts in London get heroin prescribed by NHS [Re: Diacetylmentlegen]
#14696131 - 06/30/11 09:23 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
|
|
If junkies no longer have to commit crime, they besome less despicable to general society. When the government goes to this seemingly huge step (in the eyes of most of the populace) of basically admitting that these people are not inherently bad and deserving of help they gain a litte more dignity. Hm, if this continues, perhaps an addict who wants to get off heroin and never had the confidence (because in the eyes of everyone else they are pretty much a failure any way you cut it) would have a better chance.
Treat them with dignity, as if they were human beings? Now that will spark a controversy.
--------------------
God lay his finger at the Mouth of the Serpent March 1984    A pleasing land of drowsy head it was,
Of dreams that wave before the half-shut eye,
And of gay castles in the clouds that pass,
For ever flushing round a summer sky. -Castle of Indolence
|
Diacetylmentlegen
Gentleman
Registered: 06/13/10
Posts: 267
Loc: Ireland
Last seen: 11 years, 9 months
|
Re: [UK] Drug addicts in London get heroin prescribed by NHS [Re: Toe_Jam]
#14696720 - 06/30/11 12:23 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
|
|
But if they remove the fear of drug addicts/dealers... where are they going to find more votecows from which to milk new votes effortlessly to replace the ones they'll lose from fearmongering and bull**** about things they can't possibly understand?
--------------------
"When I recall it and when I recall various other symptoms... I think the simplest explanation is... that I had these experiences, that they were real... and that they took place outside time." - Christopher Mayhew
|
|
Threaded
Previous
Index
Next
Shop: Kratom Capsules for Sale, Red Vein Kratom
Edit 
Reply 
motaman
Demiurge
luvdemshrooms
Anno
