Official reports put cost of crime, drugs and alcohol in three regions at £1.5bn a year

Crime, drugs and alcohol abuse cost taxpayers in just three regions £1.5billion a year, according to official reports.
Councils in Birmingham, Luton and Leicestershire have calculated the price of social breakdown in terms of police and court time, health services, welfare benefits and support for families. In one area, the cost of binge-drinking on hospitals and the criminal justice system was put at £713million a year, while addicts used up another £500m in public sector resources.
The figures have been uncovered by the Conservatives in pilot projects commissioned by the Government but not published centrally.
Caroline Spelman, Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, said: “It is no surprise that Labour ministers have tried to bury this bad news. “Across the country, local taxpayers are footing the bill for Labour’s broken society. The costs of social breakdown, alcohol abuse, poor schooling and drug addiction are just not confined to deprived areas – we all pay for it in our council tax bills and pay packets.
“There is no excuse for the secrecy of Labour ministers – they must come clean and publish all these reports in full.”
The 13 pilot studies were commissioned by the Department for Communities and Local Government a year ago in a £5m project known as Total Place. The idea was that public sector organisations in any given area could save money and improve services by improving co-operation and reducing duplication.
Earlier this month Liam Byrne, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, told MPs that it was up to local authorities whether they wanted to publish their reports or not, and he declined to put copies of each study in the Commons library. But the Tories have found the results of three Total Place studies, covering Birmingham; Luton and Central Bedfordshire; and Leicestershire.
The Birmingham report found that gang-related murders and attempted murders are costing the city’s taxpayers at least £1.5m a year in police, court and prison costs. It puts the cost of the activities of “10 major dynastic gang families” at £187.5m over the past 40 years. Birmingham’s two main gangs, the Johnson Crew and the Burger Bar Boys, are each said to include three generations of five families. Their rivalry led to the fatal shooting of two teenage girls, Letisha Shakespeare and Charlene Ellis, at a New Year party in 2003.
In Luton and Central Bedfordshire, a hard core of 250 criminals is blamed for a quarter of all offences, costing taxpayers up to £112m a year.
The Birmingham report puts the cost of alcohol misuse - including public disorder, workplace sickness and health services – at £713m a year. Drug misuse is said to cost £500m in terms of treatment, mental health care, benefits payments and police time.
Leicestershire estimated that drinking costs the NHS, police, workplaces and social services £120m a year.

Source: Telegraph.co.uk 24th March 2010

Heroin's Child: A shocking image of a lost innocence

A COMATOSE heroin addict sprawls in a school doorway with a needle by his side - as his toddler daughter cuddles him in a pitiful bid to stay warm. Just 10ft away, the man's six month-old baby daughter cries hysterically with no cover on her pram. The shocking pictures illustrate the grim reality behind damning statistics that show 120,000 children are living with addict parents.
Children's charities last night described the images as "appalling and frightening" And Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill said: "This shows the extent of the problem that drugs cause in our communities. When a wee toddler is discovered in circumstances like that, it is just so shocking.
"It really does highlight the tragedy and misery that drugs like heroin can bring." The father was found by a businessman alerted by the baby's crying. He said the toddler - dressed in pink tracksuit bottoms, pink and white trainers and a white T-shirt - was sound asleep but the baby looked distressed. The father's shirt sleeves were rolled up to reveal heavilytattooed arms. Around him lay the paraphernalia of drugs - discarded needles and a soup spoon for cooking heroin.
On the left of the picture, on the school step, a syringe and empty wrapper are clearly visible.
We are not naming the man because to do so would identify the vulnerable toddler and baby girl still in his care. But he remains the girls' legal guardian and lives with them and his wife in a house in Clackmannanshire. He is on a fast-track rehabilitation programme for heroin abusers and receives prescription methadone. The 39-year-old has a long history of drug abuse and was jailed for five years in 1994 for a serious sex assault. He claims the "drug works" were not his but admitted he had been drinking heavily with friends who were injecting heroin. On the day, he had appeared in court on another matter. He said: "I was told my dad was going to hospital and I wanted to take the children because my father loves them.
"I went to the Spar and got a half bottle and I also had a half bottle of vodka in the house which I had had a few out of. Me and the older child sat on the grass then I think I crashed out. I'm sorry for what has happened."
The businessman who took the photos on his mobile phone said: "He was gone. He had been that way so long that the girl was also asleep cuddled into him and the baby in the pram was crying her lungs out. He was dead to the world in broad daylight with two vulnerable children in his care. There is a busy road just a few steps away. It beggars belief that this idiot could still be responsible for these girls. The school where he was found is a notorious shooting-up location for addicts. There are new needles appearing there all the time."
Children's charity leaders described the case as "extreme" but said similar scenes were frequent behind closed doors across Scotland. Tom Roberts, head of public affairs at Children 1st, said: "It does paint a graphic picture of Scotland in 2007. "It is an appalling and frightening image. Services for addicts need to identify where children may live with someone misusing substances and ensure plans are put in place to protect them. We know with the right support, parents can overcome their addiction and maintain relationships with their children. However, we also know that support services are over-stretched and not always available when needed."
Last week chief medical officer Harry Burns revealed at least 120,000 children in Scotland live in homes blighted by drug and alcohol abuse. He warned: "Services are unable to prevent severe harm to many children. The Aberlour charity believes the real number of exposed children could be as high as 160,000. That is more than one in 10 children in Scotland, or three pupils in every class of 30. Aberlour said: "Parental substance use can affect children in many ways. The stigma can lead to isolation and susceptibility to bullying. Children may fear the family being split up by social services and may try to protect it by becoming withdrawn socially and conceal the harm they are experiencing."
Roberts said: "Many children in these situations assume a role as carer to their parents and siblings. Of the 2288 children on the child protection register in Scotland in March 2006, 45 per cent of these were categorised as having been neglected. We remain concerned that alcohol or drug misuse has pervaded Scottish culture and that this acts as a barrier to real change. Helping parents to stop misusing drugs or alcohol is the best solution for children, the best solution for communities and the best solution for individuals themselves."
It is not only the children left in the street as their parents lie comatose who are at risk. Children left in bedrooms as their parents lie unconscious through drink downstairs are in as much danger. But sometimes it can be hard to find help. A report by Children 1st stated: "People often have to wait weeks or even months to get the help that they need. This is especially regrettable given that pregnancy or parenthood can often be the trigger to encourage someone to end their drug or alcohol misuse." In the Central Scotland case, both girls are still at home with their father. This may appear to be a mistake by social services but they could also be at risk if put into public care. The report states: "The reality of our public care system is that it fails many of our young people, with outcomes such as low educational attainment, increased risk of drug use, mental illness, homelessness and offending, and a lack of identity and self-esteem. Before we can be confident of giving Scotland's most vulnerable children a safer, happier and more secure childhood, much more needs to be done to address the failings of our public care system."
Shown the pictures, Tory justice spokesman Bill Aitken said: "What an indictment of the society in which we live. These photographs are truly heart-rending." Labour justice spokeswoman Pauline McNeill said: "Sadly, there are cases like this and it will be shocking for people to read. We need more childcentred policies in government, we cannot tolerate this type of behaviour."
Clackmannanshire Council, who deal with the family, said: "Emergency duty social workers were involved in this case as soon as it came to light Social workers from Clackmannanshire Council's Child Care Service continue to be involved to ensure the future safety of the children."
This highlights the misery that heroin can bring It paints a graphic picture..an appalling and frightening image'
Source: Sunday Mail Nov. 25 2007

AIM-listed Cozart to help Scottish police with drug tests

Scotland’s drug users are facing a new threat to their freedom.
The Scottish Executive has awarded a contract to Cozart, an Oxfordshire-based forensic testing group, to supply portable drug-testing services for those arrested in Scotland.
Under a new policy approved last year by the Executive, all Scots arrested for so-called “trigger offences”, such as robbery and burglary, could be subject to saliva-based tests to determine whether their crime is linked to drug abuse.
Initially, the pilot project will cover three police stations in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen, but the scheme could be rolled out more widely if deemed a success by the police, who are trying to destroy the link between drugs and acquisitive crime. Suspects who test positive for heroin or cocaine will be channeled into drug treatment programmes.
Cozart, which is listed on the Alternative Investment Market, already supplies its RapiScan testing equipment to 173 police stations in England and Wales under a similar scheme introduced last year.
RapiScan is a portable device that can be used by police to check for the presence of a number of substances in bodily fluids. It tests almost 20,000 people arrested in England and Wales each month.
The two-year contract in Scotland will come into effect in June, with options to extend it for a further two years. Financial details of the contract are not known.
After the launch of the pilot project last year, Hugh Henry, the Scottish Deputy Justice Minister, said: “Around a third of all recorded crime in Scotland is related to drugs and more than three quarters of those sentenced by the courts to a custodial sentence show signs of drug misuse and drug-related offending.
“We need effective interventions that nip drug-related offending in the bud and channel offenders into the treatments we are supporting. These pilots will give adults with drug problems in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen an incentive to engage with services and get the help they need.”
Cozart develops and manufactures drug-testing equipment, including kits for on-site testing of saliva and crime scene laboratory testing.
The company, which also has subsidiaries in Italy, Spain and Sweden, sells kits to police and law enforcement agencies, as well as to employers who operate drug-testing policies.


Up to 80% of new Scottish prisoners who test positive for drug abuse
£66.7m Amount Scotland invested in drug treatment in 2005-06
Source: http://www.timesonline.april/ 2007

School gives out nicotine patches

The Metro reports that children as young as 13 are being given nicotine patches at a school in an attempt to help them smoking. In a project, pupils take breath tests before morning lessons to check the levels of nicotine in their bodies. If they have smoked before they get to school they are given a nicotine replacement patch by a school nurse. The controversial idea was brought in at Greencroft High School, before the summer break. Seven girls, aged 13 and 14 sought help because they smoked between ten and 20 cigarettes a day. The breakthrough came when they took part in the dangers of addiction course and were asked about their smoking habits. In addition to patches they were given a hotline number to call if they felt unable to resist the urge to light up. Four girls managed to stick to the regime and remained tobacco free for two months. Now 30 of their school mates want to join the programme when they return for the autumn term in September. The Department of Health said it welcomed any effort to discourage under 16s from smoking. According to most recent figures, six percent of British 13 year olds smoke regularly and 22 percent of 15 year olds. However, ASH believes many children start as young as nine. Spokeswoman Amanda Sandford said: "If they start as young as nine or ten, then by thirteen they could be showing all the signs of addiction an adult smoker would. For those children, it is quite reasonable to be given help with nicotine patches. As long as it is done in a controlled way with a teacher or a nurse keeping an eye on them, I don't see any problem." Source: Metro, Daily Mail, Daily Express, 13 August 2004

High Times

This month's 30th Anniversary edition of High Times Magazine has some interesting information that you may or may not already know. In articles by Richard Stratton, Rex Weiner and Ed Dwyer, there is reporting of marijuana use by Norman Mailer and Hugh Downs--something I've always suspected, but never have seen in print. In his editorial in the same edition, Richard Stratton presents an interesting history of High Times if you are interested. In the September issue, an article called "NORML 2004: A Conference of Heroes" states many of the goals of the pro-drug movement. Steve Bloom, as he accepted an award, said, "It's my great pleasure to know and work with all of you as we move closer to our ultimate goal, marijuana legalization." The movement's agenda is laid out in an article "Ten suggestions for the Pot Movement." They include: support for medical marijuana, buy hemp products, resist drug testing, support pot smokers and reach out to the mainstream, among others. These articles help connect all the "dots" together. Source : email from prevention worker in the USA to NDPA Nov. 2004

REAL COST OF CANNABIS

The following letter was printed in the Worthing Herald(UK) news paper on 10 sept 2003,and is very relevent to the item in The Times Jan'04

Regarding cannabis cafes, I work as a charge nurse at a local psychiatric hospital and and my colleagues have noticed a considerable increase in the number of people presenting with conditions caused by, or aggravated by cannabis use.This increase coincides with the time that Worthing has been home to cannabis cafes. I would be interested to see what the figures would be from an official audit of admissions to Meadowfield during the rest 12 months compared to a previous period. I feel that this cost to society in terms of expensive acute in-patient resources, and personal cost to peoples lives, is largely un-remarked upon by pro cannabis campaigners.Personally, I notice that many supporters present at court cases related to the cafes are not Worthing residents but are people with a vested interest. My impression is that there are not many local residents keen to see cannabis cafes thriving in Worthing. For these and many other reasons I fully support police efforts to close the cafes and thank police for the work done so far.

Forget your studies, now universities offer a ‘life experience’ shortcut

Forget your studies, now universities offer a ‘life experience’ shortcut
How being a drug addict can help win you a degree
‘Encouraging Drug Use’

By Laura Clark
Daily mail August 2003

FORMER drug addicts are being offered a shortcut to a university degree on the basis of the ‘valuable life experience’ they have gained. They will be allowed to skip extensive periods of formal study if they can prove their ordeal and recovery was relevant to their course.
The astonishing deal is being offered as part of a new higher education scheme titled the Accreditiation of Prior Experiential Learning, which allows universities to waive up to two thirds of courses if students can show their previous experience overlaps with material covered in lessons.
This has been interpreted by Glasgow Caledonian University to offer recovering drug addicts the chance to offset formal study in the preliminary stages of a social science degree.

Another university advises students they may be able to count holiday work as a lifeguard towards a degree In sports science.
Critics lambasted the scheme yesterday as further evidence of dumbing down in higher education.
Shadow education minister Graham Brady said: Life experiences are important for everyone. But however significant those experiences, they can be no substitute for serious academic study.

‘It is particularly worrying if drug addicts are being given an advantage over those who have studied and worked bard.’
Other examples also raised eye-brows. Angila Polytechnic University advises students on its website: The experience of being a holiday life guard has no relevance to a degree In electronics, but would probably have some relevance to a degree in sports science.’
The Quality Assurance Agency, the higher education watchdog, has become so concerned It plans to launch new guidelines to stop dubious uses of the APEL scheme. Wide variations in how universities apply the rules emerged at a recent meeting hosted by the QAA. It revealed that in a few cases, up to two thirds of an award is eligible for APEL’. This means that some students would be able to complete a three-year degree course in a year. Students must pay a charge If they wish their pre-university experiences to be assessed under APEL. This can be anything from a few pounds to £100. But in some cases the assessment involves little more than an informal meeting with an academic.

Explaining the plans at Glasgow Caledonian, Paula Cleary a research fellow at the university. said: The kind of experiences they (the addicts) had had were relevant — they had had to gather information to learn about how to cope and they had to undergo the process of counselling, for example.

Mary Brett, a grammar school teacher in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, said she was thunderstruck’ by the idea and warned it could encourage children to experiment with drugs. ‘It certainly isn’t a deterrent if they know the experience can help their future.’

Gone to pot

By Den Taylor
Daily Mail, 13 January 2004

So this is what happens when the police take the law on cannabis less seriously. In the London borough of Lambeth the experiment of a softly-softly approach to the drug led to an explosion In its use. From the end of this month the Lambeth approach will be effectively introduced across the country as cannabis is downgraded to a ‘Class C’ substance. There is a real danger that cannabis use across the country will soar as teenagers assume they are safe from arrest and that it is acceptable to use the drug From whatever angle this is looked at, It Is a totally wrongheaded reform.

Cannabis Explosion

FEARS over the legal downgrading or cannabis increased last night as figures showed an
explosion in its use. Police in the London borough which pioneered a softly-softly approach to the drug have reported a three fold increase In the number of those caught with It. Anti-drug campaigners said last night that the trend suggested demand for cannabis will rocket when it is formally reclassified as a Class C substance later this month. The statistics are taken from crime figures Lambeth widely seen as a template for the government’s drug law reform. In July 2001, Commander Brian Paddick ordered his officers not to arrest and charge those caught with a small amount of cannabis, Instead they were let off with confiscation and a warning. Critics said the year long experiment made Lambeth, and the Britain area in particular, a magnet For so-called drug tourists and increased consumption among children. Supporters claimed that it freed officers to
concentrate on tackling harder substances such as heroin and crack cocaine. Figures show that in the year leading up to the experiment there were 805 incidents involving cannabis in Lambeth. By 2001/2002 they bad risen to 1,127. Last year, despite the decision to scrap the experiment, the figure had risen to 2,330. From January 29, the Brixton approach. will effectively become a nationwide policy and officers
will be able to arrest users only in aggravating circumstances’ – if they are under 18 or smoking persistently in a public place or near a school’
The official downgrading means the drug will be considered no more dangerous than prescription painkillers, steroids or tranquillisers. Doctors fear the change will lead young people to believe the drug is harmless.

Last night, senior police sources said that even though a more aggressive approach to drug use in Lambeth has been employed over the past l8 months, demand for cannabis has continued to rise. Lambeth has also continued to attract drug users from outside the borough. That factor may end when the law is changed. Those opposed to liberalisation believe that what has happened in Brixton is likely to be repeated in many parts or the country. The fear is that demand will go through the roof. Anti-drugs campaigner Mary Brett, a grammar school teacher, said: These figures prove that since the Home Secretary David Blunkett mode his announcement that the law was going to be changed, usage of the drug and demand has gone tip, In some ways it was inevitable. People. particularly children, pick up messages and the message is that it’s OK to take cannabis.’ Alter January 20, those caught in possession for personal use can expect the police to confiscate the drug and issue a routine warning. The maximum sentence for possession will fall from five years to two, although punishments for dealers will increase. However, last night there were Fears that the changes will lead to more confusion.

John DunFord, of the Secondary Heads Association, said: There is considerable confusion on the pert o as to the effect that tills will have, particularly on school discipline. Our advice is to continue to treat cannabis as before. The penalties we advise are a suspension possession Or exclusion for anyone who is supplying it. About 2 million Britons use cannabis regularly and a third of all l5-year olds have tried the drug according to official figures. Figures yesterday showed that the price of the drug has dropped by 20 per cent t £66 for an ounce of resin and there is increasing evidence that road accidents re being caused by drivers high on the drug. Last night Chief Superintvn’ dent Richard Quinn, Lambeth’s current commander admitted there had been a perception that users would not be prosecuted for carrying drug and that it had been ‘legalised’. The bottom line is that the dealers are more overt he said. Mr Quinn, said that as tile new law was rolled out across the country flourishing new markets for the drug would develop unless local officers took a firm decision to keep a lid on it.

‘Epidemic’ of mental illness warning

SINCE the decision to downgrade cannabis revealed there have been persistent claims that it is linked to serious mental illness. Last November, a court heard how Christopher Francis, a paranoid schizophrenic with a history of smoking the drug, killed his grandmother and aunt with a house brick and kitchen knife. The Judge, Mrs. Justice Heather Hallet, said: “It would not be the first time, that the use of apparently harmless drugs such as cannabis has led to a tearful explosion of violence.”

Earlier this month a leading expert warned that cannabis is the biggest single cause of mental illness in the UK. Consultant psychiatrist Professor Robin Murray said that up to 80 per cent of new patients at many units hey, a history of smoking the drug. He added that the vast majority of psychotic patients those who lose contact with reality have used cannabis. He has also led a study which showed that cannabis users are seven times more at risk of developing mental illness than the population in general. One of the main problems, he believes, is that the cannabis is now far stronger than what was available in the 1960s and 1970s. It contains up to ten times as mush of the ingredient tetrahydrocannabinol which includes the ‘high’. The fear is that its wide spread use among youngsters could result in an epidemic of schizophrenia. he warned: the more cannabis that is consumed the more psychiatrists we need. the drug has also been linked to cancer and lung disease.

PREVENTION WORKS

PREVENTION WORKS !!!!

A positive experience from Florida, USA. The following article shows how a proactive prevention approach can make a significant difference in a community.

From drug capital to good example
BY ROBERT McCABE

In the past eight years, Miami-Dade youth have reduced drug use by 50 percent. But there is more to the story. The Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey found Miami-Dade to have the lowest rate of youth marijuana use of any Florida county, and the Federal Risk Behaviour Survey reported that Miami youth had the lowest rate of marijuana use of 14 large metropolitan areas.
In addition, the Miami Coalition School Survey showed that alcohol and cocaine use were down by a third, and the use of cigarettes, marijuana, LSD, rohhypnol, heroin, MDMA and amphetamines fell by more than half. Although drug use remains a major problem, our youth and the community have reason to be proud of this significant achievement.

We are a better place to live, work and raise families. What caused this amazing change?

In the 1980s, Miami was seen as the drug capital of the world. Cocaine cowboys roamed our streets as crime, corruption and addiction caused by cocaine and inflamed by crack put us at risk. Drug-related deaths, medical emergencies and demand for drug treatment rose dramatically. We had become the drug badlands. Our community rose up in response to this dire circumstance, and in 1988, with the leadership of Alvah Chapman and Tad Foote, the business community organized and funded the Miami Coalition for a Safe and Drug Free Community, which helped unleash a blitzkrieg of anti-drug activity. Miami’s was the nation’s first broadly based community anti-drug coalition and has become the model for more than 900 that exist today. Key to success has been the breadth of involvement New organizations and new methods of prevention sprang up and others intensified their anti-drug efforts. These include Abriendo Puertas (Opening Doors) Switchboard of Miami, Informed Families, D-FY-IT, Catholic Charities, Agape, Camillus House, Betterway, Miami-Dade County Programs, Community Crusade Against Drugs, Here’s Help, Spectrum Programs, The Village and Concept House. Thousands of people continue to participate in these efforts that have been sustained and grown. Under coalition leadership, the courts, corrections and all the law-enforcement groups came together for the first time to coordinate activities. One result was federal designation as a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area bringing additional resources that reduced drug trafficking through Miami. The county increased crack-house demolition from 54 in 1988 to 376 in 1989. It also passed a law that created “safe no-drug zones” 1,000 feet around schools, and a parent-led effort ensured that the law was enforced. Another first was the creation of a very successful drug court. its success spawned over 100 drug courts in other American communities.

Other accomplishments include the establishment of a countywide Juvenile Assessment Centre to coordinate services. The Miami-Dade School Board placed drug counsellors in the schools and retained them through budget-cutting years. The Faith Committee promoted anti- drug messages. The Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce and the coalition organized a drug-free workplace programme, which now includes 60 percent of the workplace. The media stepped to the plate and in the critical early years, The Miami Herald and community newspapers contributed a full page a week to the coalitions efforts. In the 11 years that data have been kept, the Miami electronic media led the nation nine times in providing public service time for anti-drug messages. More than half of the surveyed youth indicate that they see these messages every month.

Today the coalition has been transformed from a reactive to a proactive organization. Driven by multiple data sources, strategies are developed to address identified needs. The strategies involve many groups that draw on the communities’ drug-related resources. With the broad-based participation and these strategies in place, Miami is well positioned to continue the fight against drug use. We are proud of our community’s accomplishments. The transformation of our city from a dangerous drug-infested area to a model of national leadership in drug prevention is a stunning achievement and testimony to what can be done when we all work together.

Source: Author Robert McCabe Chair the Miami Coalition for a Safe and Drug Free Community.
Posted on website of Miami Herald FEB 2004.

Taxpayers In Australia Fund Drug-taking tips

By Nick Papps,Herald Sun
December 15. 2003

A TAXPAYER-funded magazine is telling people how to inject drugs, use rock heroin and how to beat a drug test. The magazine, Whack, is produced by drug user group VIVAIDS and even includes a section on finding the best location to inject and tips on how to inject pills.

The organisation. which receives up to $580,000 a year from government, also has a website telling users how to avoid police questions. with links to pro-drug organisations. sex sites and pornographic video outlets. The revelations coincide with the release of statistics showing that Victorian health officials gave away 5.58 million needles in the past 12 months - up 827.000 on the previous year.

Critics claim the needles are being used for heroin start-up kits and health officials have admitted that they are concerned about the rise in needle numbers.

A Herald Sun investigation has also revealed:

• INDIVIDUAL drug users are taking up to 400 needles each at needle exchanges.
• SOCIAL workers say drug dealers are waiting outside prisons for former users.
• THE Department of Human Services says increased heroin supplies and injection of prescription drugs are fuelling the rise in needle use.

Yesterday opposition leader Robert Doyle slammed VIVAAIDS and said its funding should be halted over the magazine.

“The articles in the magazine encourage efficient drug use." Mr Doyle said.

“The message should be about the dangers of drugs.

“The Government has taken its eyes off the drug issue. This is also shown through the huge numbers of needles being handed out - it’s open slather needle distribution.”

The Department of Human Services figures show that VIVAIDS received $193,000 from the State Government and almost $390,000 in funding from the Federal Government last year.

The magazine includes:

• A CHART on how long it takes to get a clean urine test after using drugs.
• TIPS on how to inject pills and break up rock heroin fix injecting.
• ADVICE on finding a good vein for injection.
• A YOUNG drug user describing chroming.

The contents page begins with the quote: “I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence or insanity, but they’ve always worked for me”.

The VIVAIDS website has extensive advice on using drugs and guides to each drug, including advice on “how to have a good time” on some drugs. A section on the law includes advice on avoiding police questions. The magazine is distributed in needle exchanges and is written for drug users.

Yesterday Health Minister Tony Abbott said the Federal Government would not knowingly support any organisation that promoted drug use.
“There’s no such thing as a safe way to use illegal drugs,’ Mr Abbott said.

A State Government spokeswoman said that although it funded VIVAIDS. none of the money went towards the magazine. VIVAIDS could not be contacted yesterday for comment. Health workers said that up to 400 needles were being given to drug users a day.

A nurse at a regional hospital said one user demanded he be given 400 needles - “and we must give it to him."Another man takes 100 needles at a time”. “The person that collects them takes them to a dealer and they’re used as heroin start-up kits.”

But the Department of Human Services’ director of drug policy and services. Paul McDonald said health officials should hand out as many needles as they could. Mr McDonald said there was no requirement For users to hand in needles despite the drug programs being called needle exchanges.
“You can never hand out too many, from a public health perspective,” he said. “The more you are able to make clean syringes available, the more you are going to prevent HIV and Hep C.” Mr McDonald said it was the department’s policy to supply users with the number of needles they requested.

Youth worker Les Twentyman said rising supplies of heroin in Victoria had led dealers to entice former drug users back. “They hang around the jails when they get released. They visit the user at home, Mr Twentyman said.

Condoms to waterproof a roof? It's a stretch

NEW DELHI -- Millions of the condoms distributed free in India to combat AIDS and a soaring population are used for other purposes, such as waterproofing roofs, reinforcing roads and even polishing saris, say health workers. In fact, only a quarter of the 1.5 billion condoms manufactured annually in India were being "properly utilized," said a report by doctors at King George's Medical University in Lucknow. Health workers said millions of condoms were also melted down and made into toys or sold as balloons to children after being dyed.

According to two university reports, villagers have used them as disposable water containers to wash, after relieving themselves in the fields. India's military has covered gun and tank barrels with condoms as protection against dust. Of the 891 million condoms meant to be handed out free, a considerable proportion were acquired by contractors through unscrupulous non-governmental agencies and government departments and mixed with concrete and tar to construct roads. This blend reportedly renders road surfaces smooth and resistant to cracks.

A large number of condoms were also used as waterproofing for roofs. Builders spread a bed of condoms beneath the roof's cement plastering, ingeniously preventing water seepage during the monsoon rains. Weavers in Varanasi, 170 miles from Lucknow, also daily used around 200,000 condoms to lubricate their looms and to polish the gold and silver thread used to embroider the saris they produced.

Source: http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-india13.html

August 13, 2004
BY RAHUL BEDI

Opiates for the Masses

One hundred years ago, German chemists introduced heroin to the world. On Saturday the New York Academy of Medicine held a conference celebrating the drug's latest use, "heroin maintenance": medically supervised distribution of pure heroin to addicts. The academy's First International Conference on Heroin Maintenance introduces to our shores the latest example of the pernicious drug-treatment philosophy known as "harm reduction."

Harm reduction holds that drug abuse is inevitable, so society should try to minimize the damage done to addicts by drugs (disease, overdose) and to society by addicts (crime, health care costs). According to the Oakland, Calif.-based Harm Reduction Coalition, harm reduction "meets users where they are at . . . accepting for better or worse, that drug use is part of our world."

Its advocates present harm reduction as a rational compromise between the alleged futility of the drug war and the extremism of outright legalization. But since harm reduction makes no demands on addicts, it consigns them to their addiction, aiming only to allow them to destroy themselves in relative "safety" -- and at taxpayer expense.

The recent debate over needle exchange illuminates the political strategy of harm reductionists. First, present the public with a specious choice: Should a drug addict shoot up with a clean needle or a dirty one? (Unquestioned is the assumption that he should shoot up at all.) Then misrepresent the science as Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala did when she pronounced "airtight" the evidence that needle exchange reduces the rate of HIV transmission. In fact, most needle exchange studies have been full of design errors; the more rigorous ones have actually shown an increase in HIV infection.

And so it is with heroin maintenance. First, the false dichotomies: pure vs. contaminated heroin; addicts who commit crime to support their habit vs. addicts who don't. Then the distortion of evidence. The Lindesmith Center, one of the conference sponsors, claims that "a landmark Swiss study has successfully maintained heroin addicts on injectable heroin for almost two years, with dramatic reductions in illicit drug use and criminal activity as well as greatly improved health and social adjustment."

In fact, the Swiss "experiment," conducted by the Federal Office of Public Health from 1994 to 1996, was not very scientific. Addicts in the 18-month study were expected to inject themselves with heroin under sterile conditions at the clinic three times a day. They also received extensive counseling, psychiatric services and social assistance (welfare, subsidized jobs, public housing and medical care). Results: The proportion of individuals claiming they supported themselves with illegal income dropped to 10% from 70%; homelessness fell to 1% from 12%. Permanent employment rose to 32% from 14%, but welfare dependency also rose to 27% from 18%. The rate of reported cocaine use among the heroin addicts dropped to 52% from 82%.

These numbers may look promising, but it's hard to know what they mean. Verification of self-reported improvement was spotty at best. And addicts received so many social services -- five times more money was spent on them than is the norm in standard treatment -- that heroin maintenance itself may have played no role in any overall improvement.

Definitions of success were loose as well. Anyone who kept attending the program, even intermittently, was considered "retained." By this standard, more than two-thirds made it through -- a much higher retention rate than in conventional treatment. But considering that the program gave addicts pharmaceutical-grade heroin at little or no cost, it's astonishing that the numbers weren't higher. It turned out that the patients who dropped out were those with the most serious addiction-related problems -- those who had been addicted the longest, were the heaviest cocaine users, or had HIV -- the very groups that are of the greatest public-health concern.

What's more, the researchers did not compare heroin maintenance with conventional treatments such as methadone or residential, abstinence-oriented care. They abandoned their original plan to assign patients randomly to heroin maintenance or conventional methadone -- because, among other reasons, the subjects, not surprisingly, strongly preferred heroin.

"The risk of heroin maintenance is the incentive it provides to `fail' in other forms of treatment in order to become a publicly supported addict," says Mark Kleiman of UCLA School of Public Policy. And in fact, once the heroin maintenance project started, conventional treatment facilities reported a sharp decline in applications, even though the rate of drug use remained steady.

The Swiss heroin experiment was born out of desperation. In the mid-1980s, the Swiss government became disenchanted with drug treatment and turned to a policy of sanctioned drug use in designated open areas. But this was unsuccessful; the most visible failures being the squalid deterioration of Zurich's Platzspitz Park (the notorious "Needle Park") and the syringe-littered Letten railway station.

It is telling that harm reduction efforts have evolved in countries that provide addicts with a wide array of government benefits. Rather than throw up their hands at the poor record of drug rehabilitation, the Swiss and others should acknowledge the extent to which welfare services enable addiction by shielding addicts from the consequences of their actions, financing their drug purchases and encouraging dependency on public largesse.

Nonetheless, Switzerland has ardently embraced heroin maintenance. The Federal Office of Public Health plans to triple enrollment next year to about 3,000; and in 2004 the Swiss Parliament plans to decriminalize consumption, possession and sale of narcotics for personal use.

Not everyone shares Bern's enthusiasm. Wayne Hall of Australia's University of New South Wales was an independent evaluator for the World Health Organization who assessed the experimental plan of the Swiss project. "The unique political context . . . of the trials . . . meant that opportunities were lost for a more rigorous evaluation," he wrote. In February, the International Narcotics Control Board of the United Nations -- a quasijudicial body that monitors international drug treaties -- expressed concern that "before {completion of} the evaluation by the World Health Organization of the Swiss heroin experiment, pressure groups and some politicians are already promoting the expansion of such programmes in Switzerland and their proliferation in other countries."

And indeed, the trials' principal investigator and project directors have traveled to Australia, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and elsewhere promoting heroin maintenance. They won a sympathetic hearing in the Netherlands, which plans to begin a heroin experiment next month. This isn't surprising; after all, this is a country that has a union for addicts, the Federation of Dutch Junkie Leagues, which lobbies the government for services. In Rotterdam last month, I visited a Dutch Reformed church where the pastor had invited two dealers in to sell discounted heroin and cocaine. He also provided basement rooms where users could inject or smoke heroin.

Even if heroin maintenance "worked" -- if it could be proved that heroin giveaways enhanced the addicts' health and productivity -- we would still have to confront the raw truth about harm reduction. It is the public-policy manifestation of the addict's dearest wish: to use free drugs without consequence. Imagine extending this model -- the use of state-subsidized drugs, the offer of endless social services and the expectation of nothing in return -- to America's hard-core addicts.

Today the U.N. General Assembly opens a special session on global drug-control policy. Harm reduction advocates will tell the world body that drug abuse is a human right and that the only compassionate response is to make it safer to be an addict. The Swiss and the Dutch seem to view addicts as irascible children who should be indulged, or as terminally ill patients to be palliated, hidden away and written off. But heroin maintenance is wrong. As an experiment, thus far it is scientifically groundless. As public-health policy it will always be a posture of surrender.
By Sally Satel M.D.
Source: www.sallysatelmd.com