flazio wrote: » Watching the ambulance documentaries on TV and the amount of heroin addicts you see is really depressing. It got me wondering. You see every now and then cocaine getting seized in customs, grow houses destroyed all sorts of criminals put away and yet you never see anything about the supply of heroin to the streets getting disrupted. Now I've not seen any of the drug TV series like Narcos or Breaking Bad because it's bad enough looking at what the real services have to deal with without bumping up the ratings of series based on the people responsible. While I don't believe this will solve the rough sleepers problem overnight, a tackle on cutting the heroin supply might make some improvements to the situation and make some of these people capable of looking after a house. I'd like to hear what you think. Should we be trying harder to stop the supply of heroin?
The high horse brigade wrote: » Legalise it you have control of the situation straight away. The war against drugs is lost. Time for a new approach. Check out Portugal, they legalized everything and hard drug use dropped.
flazio wrote: » You see every now and then cocaine getting seized in customs, grow houses destroyed all sorts of criminals put away and yet you never see anything about the supply of heroin to the streets getting disrupted. Now I've not seen any of the drug TV series like Narcos or Breaking Bad because it's bad enough looking at what the real services have to deal with without bumping up the ratings of series based on the people responsible.
While I don't believe this will solve the rough sleepers problem overnight
a tackle on cutting the heroin supply might make some improvements to the situation and make some of these people capable of looking after a house. I'd like to hear what you think. Should we be trying harder to stop the supply of heroin?
pickarooney wrote: » Does 'made' in the thread title refer to 'effort' or 'heroin'? They're two very different questions.
flazio wrote: » Apologies. I mean getting the stuff off the streets from wherever it's coming from. It's curious to me that you hear of customs seizures or factory raids surrounding other substances but never heroin. It's sad to see what the ambulance service and hospitals have to deal with, one of the reasons (but not the only one I know) that good people get thrown out onto the streets and just a source of so much misery and yet I never hear of any attempts to cut it out at source like you do with other substances like Cocaine, cannabis, speed and the likes. Heck even tobacco is getting harder to source. It makes little to no sense to me.
Franz Von Peppercorn wrote: Ireland has already effectively decriminalised heroin usage.
Wanderer78 wrote: » Decriminalise the lot, what a waste of money and resources as it is, be a bit more pro active than reactive in trying to deal with this problem
Franz Von Peppercorn wrote: » What more do you want?
CrankyHaus wrote: » The US is currently going through a major heroin crisis, part of a broader opioid crisis that is the leading cause of death of Americans under 50 and has been declared a national emergency. Part of the problem is an increase in Mexican produced heroin as previous cannabis growers switched to opium when US states legalised weed. A US crackdown on rampant prescription opioid abuse drove many addicts to heroin. An overlooked constituency of support for Trump's widely derided wall are communities affected by this flow of heroin who are desperate enough to grasp any proposed solution. US led efforts disrupted the heroin production in the golden triangle in South East Asia. Efforts to disrupt production in Afghanistan have been less successful. Now Latin American production is ramping up despite decades of significant US aid to countries there to curb drug production and supply. Clearly stopping the supply of heroin does not work.
Walter Bishop wrote: » Junkies don't vote and that's why there's fu<k all done about it. Decriminalise it, regulate it, take the Portuguese approach. Treat addicts as patients, people in need of help, and not as criminals, or sub-human vermin or whatever the insult du jour is on message boards.
Graces7 wrote: » And America like Ireland, is focussing on the wrong people. Here as there people needing codeine for pain relief are being stigmatised and refused codeine when they themselves have never abused it Sheerly paranoid and ineffectual an causing needless suffering (yes I am affected by this)
Sofiztikated wrote: » It'd surprise you how many people abuse pain killers. Even down to panadol. Unfortunately, like medical and recreational cannabis, people that use, but don't abuse, it get caught in the cross fire. I know older ladies, some not far off your own age, that got opiate based pain relief for a variety of reasons, and one in particular can be seen goofing at family functions and whatnot. Another is known for raiding medicine cabinets when she visits, and can't be left alone with them. I'm all for people being able to access medication. But we really do have a ****ty attitude to them, and pointing out the problem is constantly poopoo'ed by the likes of yourself.
Aminah Dazzling Cucumber wrote: » We're probably drifting off topic but most people addicted to OTC medication like codeine products are not only unaware that they are addicted but will vehemently deny they are. They will also maintain that Codeine is the only painkiller that works for them because a common withdrawal symptom, and addictive craving, for codeine manifests as pain. We need to allow medical professionals call the tune on use, so genuine patients who can benefit and receive the treatment.
wexie wrote: » Codeine is widely available, with a prescription in many different forms. There is absolutely no need for it to be (more) widely available OTC.
Franz Von Peppercorn wrote: » I’m not for changing this but it might be more useful in debate to acknowledge it exists rather than suggest the fix for a policy that already exists is the policy that already exists.
Franz Von Peppercorn wrote: » Legalisation of opioids or morphine derivatives could possibly lead to the situation in the US - an epidemic caused by fully legal drugs over prescribed by doctors and over advertised and pushed by the pharmaceutical companies.
Steve3452 wrote: » Codeine can also lead to heroin they are the same type of drug large amounts of heroin addicts first started on prescription drugs like codeine.
