Posted on 12/03/2002 8:21:52 AM PST by yankeedame
Tuesday, 3 December, 2002, 15:22 GMT
Heroin to be offered on the NHS
The government wants to target vulnerable people
Heroin is to be available on the NHS to all those with a clinical need for it, as part of the government's new drugs strategy. About 400 heroin users already get the drug legally on NHS prescription but access nationwide is patchy.
David Blunkett is making the signal to young people that cannabis is alright
Keith Hellawell Former drugs 'czar' The new drugs plan centres on a "treatment strategy" aimed at those using hard drugs like heroin and crack cocaine.
It was published amid criticism from the government's former drugs policy co-ordinator that ministers' stance on cannabis was now a "dog's breakfast".
Heroin users would be given prescribed supplies of the drug in safe, medically supervised areas, using clean needles.
A government official said the drug would be prescribed only where other treatments, such as methadone, had not worked or where doctors believed they would not work.
The plan does not extend to Scotland, where the Scottish Executive says it will monitor the move.
Cutting the rapid rise of crack cocaine use is another target of the government plan, which updates the 1998 strategy.
Cannabis trials
New plans include reducing the supply of the drug to the UK and introducing more specialist treatment programmes.
The focus on Class A drugs follows research suggesting that 99% of the costs run up by drug users comes from Class A addicts.
Click here to read how treatment works Clinical trials have been taking place into the use of cannabis for medical treatment.
The drugs company steering those trials is now set to apply for a licence and ministers say they are encouraged by the results of the tests so far.
Other plans in the strategy include:
Increasing spending on tackling drug use by 44%, taking spending to almost £1.5bn for 2005/6 Expansion of residential treatment programmes Launching an education campaign in the new year, aimed at young people. Mr Blunkett said: "We know cannabis is dangerous but it does not lead to the kind of total disintegration of people's lives that heroin, crack and ecstasy do, and we know they kill.
"We are concentrating on a massive increase in treatment - we have the first National Treatment Centre - and we are going to link that with rehabilitation."
Mr Blunkett wants an emphasis on treatment
Specific targets for reducing the numbers of people taking drugs are being dropped.
In a move that has provoked criticism, Mr Blunkett said the target of halving hard drug use by 2008 was "not credible".
Those who prefer a more liberal strategy say the government is sending out mixed messages.
Under the new Criminal Justice Bill, to be debated by MPs this week, any individuals caught with any Class C drugs could be arrested.
Mr Blunkett downgraded cannabis from Class B to C in order to allow greater focus on Class A drugs such as heroin and cocaine.
That meant it remained illegal, but possession of small amounts would no longer be considered an arrestable offence.
Mixed messages?
Keith Hellawell, former UK drugs coordinator for the government, said he felt the cannabis issue had become a "dog's dinner".
He added: "David Blunkett is making the signal to young people that it is alright.
"He will deny it but that is the signal."
Roger Howard, chief executive of charity DrugScope, praised the focus on hard drugs and the shift towards more treatment.
But Mr Howard added: "We regret that the government did not seize this opportunity to be more bold.
"Important opportunities to save lives have been missed by refusing to back harm minimisation schemes, such as safe injecting rooms."
Stirring moral panic
Mr Howard argued that putting ecstasy in the same bracket as cocaine and heroin would seriously undermine the strategy's credibility among young people.
The Conservatives have been pushing for many more rehabilitation centres for users of heroin and cocaine.
The Liberal Democrats meanwhile welcomed the focus on hard drugs but said making possession of Class C drugs an arrestable offence made a mockery of reclassifying cannabis.
Home affairs spokesman Simon Hughes said: "The government should stop whipping up moral panic about cannabis and ecstasy and focus the efforts of the criminal justice system on heroin and crack cocaine."
You've bought your one-way ticket to England, eh?
Well said!
"Coercion" is a nasty word for libertarians because it hurts their wittle feelings.
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How right you are! A few years back while sorting out the effects of my mother who had recently passed away, in a box of photos I came across my father (RIP) report card for a semester of his freshmen year at the U Of Illin. Urbana He was on the GI Bill and just back for Korea --so we're talking early 1950s.
Anyway, his report card was just that: a report card. A piece of paper probably no bigger than your open hand, the grades were entered by hand, and the classes it listed...ye cats! Basic Latin, basic Greek, Trig.,Physics, English (grammar/composition) and Geography. Aapparently these were basic freshmen classes 50+ years ago! You're lucky to find this load in even grad students today.
(*His grades were mostly Bs, with one C and one A, back when grades counted for something.)
... it describes a nasty activity.
FYI, small-l libertarians are not all members, or even enthusiasts, of the Libertarian Party.
Don't be ridiculous. I buy American.
I'm not sure what to make of that question. They have believers here as well. Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Jews etc.I'm not religious in any sense at all- agnostic.
I consider myself Libertarian but in essence only- the real dictates of the world make me put my eggs in the Republican basket. When the dems have been defeated- meaning they are no longer viable as a competitive rival to the GOP then the Libertarians can start moving more into an opposition position to the Republican Party. But that day is still a long way off. I'm not going to be free in the sense I would prefer in any country I live in except some wild and woolly place where you make your own rules- like Africa. (Interestingly enough, last year there was an article here on FR about libertarianism thriving in Somalia- if you search you might find it.) Truth be known, I preferred living in Africa to Europe.
Scotland is simply the latest point on the globe where I find myself. There's nothing particular per se about the UK- if we're to live in the UK for a while, we prefer Scotland. We plan to leave within the next couple years. We're torn between South America and Australia/New Zealand. We're taking Spanish courses at the moment in case we lean Costa Rica way.
I like adventure, or at least a change in surroundings every so often. So many places- so little time. I figure eventually, to satisfy our wanderlust, we'll have to buy a boat. That way we can combine our accommodation with our transport and go where we please. Maybe in five to ten years we'll do that. That about sums me up. Just a drifter really.
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