Heroin contaminated with anthrax has killed 11 people
BMJ 2010; 340 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.c937 (Published 15 February 2010) Cite this as: BMJ 2010;340:c937
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I have a solution to the problem, a solution that I doubt very much
the UK government will take up for a number of reasons, those being that
drug addiction and the knock on effect of the criminal activity that goes
with it, employs a significant amount of the working population; police,
social workers, NHS, youth justice system, the courts, HMP, the lawyers,
right down to those that the manufacture paper used, or the burglar alarms
needed to be installed!
The second reason is my own cynical view and it is simply that crime
is a vote puller because it directly affects every last one of us, whether
that be because our insurance policies go up or because we have been a
victim of a drug related crime and whilst the general population becomes
fixated on what is going to improve their own personal lives, they tend
not to look to hard at other government policies!
OK, for what it's worth, here is my solution.
We buy the Opium, the Afghan farmers can feed their families, no more
anthrax contamination. We then convert it into diamorphine for the NHS and
we also, wait for the really contraversial solution, convert it into safe
clean heroin and in a controlled environment, administer the heroin to the
addicts whilst getting them to engage in services that would help get them
off the drug - end result, heroin is free, cuts crime significantly,
prevents the sex industry from exploiting addicts and then maybe, just
maybe we can stop the rot.
Now there's a thought eh!
Competing interests:
as cited previously
Competing interests: No competing interests
Afghanistan now supplies around 90% of the UK's heroin,[1] 50% of
that is grown in the Southern Helmand province,[2] only recently taken by
the coalition forces fighting out there.
Prior to the invasion of Afghanistan, the Taliban prevented farmers
from growing poppies using draconian and lethal methods to deter such
practices, the rise in the growth of the Opium poppy has escalated beyond
all predictions since we invaded. The world governments are currently left
with a moral and economic dilemma. The Afghan farmers and their families
would starve without the Opium income, if the troops out in the Southern
Helmand province destroy the crops, they run the risk of converting the
farmers over to the Taliban who would provide for them and their families,
yet in not destroying the crops, they are contributing to the appalling
problems that heroin addiction causes in the UK, which cost us, the tax
payer, billions.
As an informed observer of these events, I wonder if the BMJ readers
would like to think about the following and comment.
1)The Southern Helmand province was held by the Taliban until
recently, did they stop erasing the poppy fields to fund their war and is
that war one of stealth now as opposed to direct action?
2) If Anthrax were to be found in any other product coming out of
Afghanistan, would it then headline as "bio weapon found in x, y or z" and
would this be more publicised if 11 members of the public who weren't
heroin addicts had died?
3) Who needs to bomb when you can saturate the UK market with cheap,
high quality and highly addictive heroin undermining the very fabric of
our society?
4) Given the fact that the opium trade is highly lucarative and it
would take years to build an infrastructure allowing the Afghan farmers to
build a sustainable legitimate economy - and the UK are at loggerheads
with International Council on Security and Development and now the USA
regarding the longterm strategy for Afghanistan's poppy growing, just how
is this going to resolve itself? [3]
Finally, having worked with heroin addicts in the past, in my
experience, there is little or no chance, given their own perceived status
in society and the drive to feed their addiction overwhelming all other
considerations, that they will seek medical help until it's too late and
we have a "ticking bomb" waiting to go off.
[1] http://www.opioids.com/afghanistan/heroin.html
[2] http://abcnews.go.com/International/afghan-farmers-urged-taliban-
plant-poppies/story?id=8652891
[3]http://www.icosgroup.net/modules/press_releases/us_makes_historic_shift
Competing interests:
I was imprisoned with heroin addcits, who were prepared to run the risk of a further five years of imprisonment when importing into HMP in order to feed their addcitions and risked life and limb when needle sharing.
Competing interests: No competing interests
Re: Maybe this will stimulate debate ...
I commend Penny Mellor’s attempt to stimulate debate about the
futility of war. In my view, Johann Hari of The Independent is also an
excellent debate stimulator. The evidence points to the fact that the
fabulously expensive
'war on drugs' simply doesn't work. Last year Hari cogently argued that
rather than funding big drug busts the facts show that legalising,
regulating and medicalising drug use - and treating drug addicts - is a
likely better way forward for everyone. If only those in power were not
blind to the evidence. [1]
Johann Hari finishes his article,
"There is another way. Imagine a country with no drug dealers killing
to protect their patch or terrorising whole estates. Imagine a country
where burglary fell by 60 per cent. Imagine a Britain where we spent all
these billions treating addicts as ill people who need our help, not
hunting them down as criminals who need punishment. We can be that
country. We just have to come down from chasing the dragon of a drug-free
world - and start looking soberly at the facts."
[1] Accept the facts - and end this futile 'war on drugs': We are
handing one of our biggest industries over to armed, criminal gangs.
Johann Hari, The Independent, 11 November 2009.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-
accept-the-facts-ndash-and-end-this-futile-war-on-drugs-1818167.html
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests