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LETTERS
We welcome your letters...
Please email them to the editor, claire@cjwellings.com or post them
to the address on page 3. Letters may be edited for space or clarity –
please limit submissions to 350 words.
‘Is there a new
adulterant around,
which is dissolved by
acid, or is the heroin
simply being adulter -
ated even more?’
MEDIA SAVVY
WHO’S BEEN SAYINGWHAT..?
It appears that those who have the biggest budgets shout the loudest, as
the supporters of minimum pricing cannot be heard over the red-faced rants
from the multinational drinks corporations.
Katherine Brown,
Guardian
, 8 May
Tellingly, the Queen’s Speech excluded a host of politically correct bills that
had been demanded by progressive campaigners, such as minimum alcohol
prices and the introduction of plain packaging for cigarettes. Both proposals
highlight the finger-wagging spirit of the public health lobby at its worst,
devoid of any understanding for the concepts of personal responsibility.
Leo McKinstry,
Express
, 9 May
The mistake ‘health experts’make is failing to understand that general pleas
asking people to moderate their drinking in a vacuum, regardless of the
personal situations or pressures they feel offer justification for alcohol use,
are just too big an ask.
Deborah Orr,
Guardian
, 10 May
An offender might be turfed out of jail somewhere in the North of England
at the end of his fifth short stretch inside… We buy him his train fare back
and put £46 in his pocket before he leaves prison, in the vain hope that he
will use it to get back on his feet. Within days he’s living rough in London, the
money has gone on drugs and he needs his next fix. So he mugs an old lady
in the high street, creating another needless victim.
Chris Grayling MP,
Telegraph
, 8 May
After decades of the welfare state merry-go-round, people look to the
state to pick up the pieces. (By the way, what is wrong with a cut in
housing benefit for people living in state-funded homes with rooms they
do not need or use?)
Nick Ferrari,
Express
, 19 May
TV commissioners tend to come from relatively privileged backgrounds,
and are interested in sensationalism to attract viewers. And so we’ve ended
up with poverty porn – the latest being Channel 4’s
Skint
– that helps build
the image of an undeserving, beer-swilling, drug-taking poor, sticking their
fingers up at the taxpayers they’re living off. The reality, tragically, remains
far from our screens.
Owen Jones,
Independent
, 24 May
John Humphrys chortled through a
Today
programme ‘debate’ as two think-
tank spokesmen both advocated decriminalising drugs… But isn’t the BBC
supposed to be impartial? Aren’t lives hideously damaged by illegal drugs?
Don’t many people still want them banned? Yet the giggly item gave no
space to their views. Why should we pay a licence fee to be treated like this?
Peter Hitchens,
Mail on Sunday
, 12 May
At the time of the initial invasion in 2001, Tony Blair insisted that one of the
reasons for occupying Afghanistan was because ‘the Taliban are causing the
deaths of young British people who buy their drugs on the streets’. But
clearly some people misunderstood what Blair meant. They were saying that
the Afghan heroin trade wasn’t fulfilling its potential, and with the right
management they could treble it.
Mark Steel,
Independent
, 2 May
June 2013 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| 7
Letters |
Media savvy
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
CITRIC QUESTION
As a harm reduction worker at the Cairn
Centre, the main needle exchange in the
centre of Dundee, I wondered if any of
your readers could answer a question.
We have noticed lately that our
clients are asking for lots of citric –
much more than they need. We asked
them why and it turns out that the IDUs
in this area have changed the order in
which they prepare their hits.
They put the heroin in first, then put
in the citric, and then the water – instead
of putting the water in before the citric.
So we have been reminding clients of
the correct order. However, a few of them
are now telling us that the reason they
need much more citric is to dissolve the
adulterants in their heroin. They are
telling us that the mixture is very white.
Is there a new adulterant around,
which is dissolved by acid, or is the
heroin simply being adulterated even
more, with the usual stuff?
It would be great to hear what other
NX workers, or others, think.
George Donald, Cairn Centre, Dundee
SUPPORTING
REAL LOCALISM
Marcus Roberts talked about localism
(
DDN
, May, page 11), pointing out that
while Public Health England (PHE) is the
‘expert national public health agency’
how effective it is will depend on its
ability to persuade those with power at
a local level to listen to its ‘evidence-
based’ recommendations.
PHE will be presenting ‘evidence-
based’ recommendations not just for
drugs and alcohol, but for all areas of
public health, which is a massive cause
for concern for ongoing funding of drug
treatment. Drug dependency, despite the
terrible consequences for individuals
involved, is a minority sport. The scale of
the harm caused pales in comparison to
that of alcohol, smoking, and poor diet.
On top of that we all know how far down
the list of priorities it is for most
members of the public and therefore their
elected representatives. If we are relying
on PHE alone to make the case and
ensure the continued investment in drug
treatment, I think we have scant chance.
However the one thing that I think
provides a faint glimmer of hope is the
continued rise of the service user and
recovery groups. As a regular attendee
of the
DDN
user involvement
conference, I have witnessed the
changes and growth of different user-led
organisations over the past few years.
These groups operate on a local level
and are increasingly becoming more
established and providing a wide-
reaching range of services that benefit
the whole community.
You cannot underestimate the
positive message this sends out of the
value to the whole of society gained by
helping those with drug problems. In
order to capitalise on the positive PR
this creates, these groups need to be
supported and given the tools to help
them continue to make their case and
lobby for ongoing funding. If PHE works
in partnership with them, and uses the
resources and networks available locally,
then maybe there is a chance to both
make the case and most importantly
have it listened to.
John Walton, by email