Jailed addicts get safer syringes...!

[keda]

Jailed addicts to get safer syringes to inject heroin - paid for by the taxpayer

Convicts are to receive Government help to ensure they can inject heroin safely inside jail.

Under the dramatic relaxation of drugs policy, criminals will be given taxpayer-funded disinfectant tablets to clean their syringes.

The Conservatives said the 'outrageous' decision effectively condoned drug use by inmates, who are supposed to be given help to quit Class-A substances.

Theft and robbery to pay for drug addiction is one of the main reason criminals end up in jail in the first place, they said.

Possession of injecting equipment by prisoners is illegal, but officials said they had a right to be protected from blood infections.

There will be concern the decision - to be implemented by the Ministry of Justice later this year - is the start of a Government retreat from trying to get inmates off drugs.

It follows a bruising human rights defeat in which the Prison Service was ordered to pay £750,000 to nearly 200 drug addicts who experienced withdrawal symptoms after they were forced to go 'cold turkey'.

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: 'This is exactly the wrong approach and it is outrageous the Government is content to allow it. Drugs are a scourge on society which fuel much other crime. Prisons should be places of rehabilitation where prisoners are got off drugs, not left on them.

Jailed addicts to get safer syringes to inject heroin - paid for by the taxpayer | the Daily Mail


Makes me feel a bit better for living in this racist, sexist, unPC paradise.

[mad_dog]

I heard heroin became popular in prisons when they started regular drug test. Cannabis remains in the blood stream for weeks but heroin only stays for 24/48 hours. British jails are understaffed at the weekends so now Friday night is heroin night for the ladz and laddettes.

I'm not really sure where I stand on this issue but I guess the inmates lives will be dramatically shortened by their heorin abuse. "volunarty leathal injection" ... A few less scum bags for the British Tax Payer to support.

It follows a bruising human rights defeat in which the Prison Service was ordered to pay £750,000 to nearly 200 drug addicts who experienced withdrawal symptoms after they were forced to go 'cold turkey'.

I'm not really sure where I stand on this issue but Heroin withdrawl can causesdeath. So I assume the prisoners sued on the grounds that they were denied medical treatment which the British Prison Service is legally obliged to provide.

[keda]

...I'm not really sure where I stand on this issue but I guess the inmates lives will be dramatically shortened by their heorin abuse. "volunarty leathal injection" ... A few less scum bags for the British Tax Payer to support.

May be fewer, but more expensive...need to dust off the abacus.

[stroller]

May be fewer, but more expensive...

So, how much do a few desinfectant tablets cost?

The sensible thig would be to store pharmaceutical heroin in the prison dispensary, so it would be an income generating scheme for the underfunded prisons, and addicts would get it at low prices, so they won't need to committ further crimes to finance their debts when they get out.

[Wallace]

one of the most sensible posts for a long time, Stroller.

[stroller]

The stuff costs almost nothing to produce, and should be available on prescription, if associated crimes to raise the money is the main issue.

Of course the subject is more complex than this.

[Spin]

The UK should put all those who want to take smack on one of the remote islands in the outer hebrides. Give them all the free smack they need and no boats. Crimewave solved overnight

[keda]

Hmm, sounds great but on that track someone could argue to extend the public umbrella by isolating anyone HIV+ with a stated inclination or intent to knowingly and deliberately infect others via unprotected sex.

Hopefully changed but it wasn't so long ago that the authorities could do little more than step back and let the scumbag get on with it, human rights and all that, wait until somebody else became infected, then comply with demanding rules to prove it was done by scumbag and importantly that he did so knowingly, and then prepare their case in the hope the rat dies before it reaches court because past experience says they're wasting their time and effort and resources because he'd walk anyway.

[stroller]

^
Hmm, what does this have to do with disinfectant tablets to clean syringes in prisons, or any of the comments in this thread?

Are you saying heroin addicts are in some way similar to people who knowingly spread aids? Hmm, I don't think you are, you seem too intelligent for that.
Or has this something to do with the general notion of the "bhb" or the "PC police"?

[keda]

The cost of disinfectant tabs becomes irrelevant in considering the absurdity of jailing someone for a heroin-related crime and then extending protection to him when he shoots up inside.

Nothing to do with the general notion of the "bhb" or the "PC police"? - how about the rights merchants?

[stroller]

- how about the rights merchants?

Hmm, I thought I'd done quite well in learning how to decypher some of your comments, but this is a new term for me. What species is this?

[keda]

Of course I know you are only joking so this isn't for you stroller, but for any morons out there that perceive the need for a code book try looking up 'rights', then 'merchants', add the two and see what you end up with.

[stroller]

Well, I got this far on my own initiative.

But what is this supposed to mean in the context of this thread? Is there a political or professional group of people commonly referred to as "rights merchants"?

[Jet Gorgon]

I love this. Smack addicts (and where do they get it from?) in jail get free shooter supplies, but I suppose cigarette smoking bans are in effect to safeguard the health of the prison population. What a crock. Ship em all to the Bangkok Hilton for a month. But I have rights! screams the murderer/rapist/mugger/thief/burglar/vandal, etc. This type of legislation drives me crazy.

[Lily]

I think it has been common practice in Australian prisons for ages, to have needle exchanges. Bring in a used one and get a new one.

Also available at participating chemists, but they do have to bring a used one to get a new one. It was done in the hope that there would be less sharing of needles and also less irresponsible disposing of them.

Mind you, diabetics have to purchase their own syringes.

[keda]

Within the context of this thread? Just seems pointless from here to jail certain lawbreakers if we are legally obliged to help them safely resume their illicit activities whilst in the brig, and doubly so if they have the laughable right to sue for breach of their right not to suffer withdrawal symptoms whilst being weaned off the substance that put them there.

Yes, no, or am I too hard on the dears?

[Lily]

Yes, no, or am I too hard on the dears?

That is not really the point. They will all get out one day and giving them clean needles will go some way to limiting the spread HIV and HepC.

It is not only the people in prison who will be affected if they contract HIV or HepC from shared needles in prison. The general community will also.

[stroller]

Within the context of this thread? Just seems pointless from here to jail certain lawbreakers if we are legally obliged to help them safely resume their illicit activities whilst in the brig, and doubly so if they have the laughable right to sue for breach of their right not to suffer withdrawal symptoms whilst being weaned off the substance that put them there.

I still don't know what "rights merchants" is supposed to mean, if anything, but never mind.

People, including criminals, have the right not to be made to suffer unnecessarily, forcing someone to go cold turkey against one's will is similar to leaving someone like yourself without food. This is not an acceptable form of 'therapy' and has nothing to do with helping someone.
As I said already, the drug or a substitute should be made available in a controlled amount and environment, so they can be "weaned off" in an acceptable fashion.
I also think the clean needle scheme is very odd - a halfbaked compromise.

Addiction is an illness.

[Spin]

Another reason wht I dont pay taxes by living in UK anymore.

Its gone mad there

[Spin]

Addiction is an illness.

So convicted addicts should go to a seperate prison whose sole role to contain and wean off these people from the hard stuff. A smack heads boot camp.
I also believe that the UK should adopt the "three strikes" idea from US for repeat offenders

[Marmite the Dog]

I still don't know what "rights merchants" is supposed to mean, if anything, but never mind.

Look in the mirror, then you'll know.

I think convicts shouldn't be allowed any form of drug unless it's to treat a medical condition (no that doesn't include an addiction). So what if the poor little lamb is addicted to heroin/alcohol/nicotine; tough shit. Why should the tax payer pay any more to look after a convict than they already do?
I also think they should be used in manufacturing. The UK may even get some sort of manufacturing industry again.

[keda]

Within the context of this thread? Just seems pointless from here to jail certain lawbreakers if we are legally obliged to help them safely resume their illicit activities whilst in the brig, and doubly so if they have the laughable right to sue for breach of their right not to suffer withdrawal symptoms whilst being weaned off the substance that put them there.

I still don't know what "rights merchants" is supposed to mean, if anything, but never mind.

People, including criminals, have the right not to be made to suffer unnecessarily, forcing someone to go cold turkey against one's will is similar to leaving someone like yourself without food. This is not an acceptable form of 'therapy' and has nothing to do with helping someone.
As I said already, the drug or a substitute should be made available in a controlled amount and environment, so they can be "weaned off" in an acceptable fashion.
I also think the clean needle scheme is very odd - a halfbaked compromise.

Addiction is an illness.

The drug or a substitute, you say? Should we jail people for being in possession of heroin, and then give them heroin whilst they're inside? Cor blimey mate, you serious?

Also, can't see your analogy with food, since I'm sure most of us would die without it and that's whether we go cold turkey or are weaned off. Still, that's your call, meanwhile, if it's ridiculous to give them the drug they were jailed for, should we wean the dears off with methadone? - oops, sorry, isn't that more addictive than heroin, and won't they have the right to sue us?

Looks like there's no practical and workable solution short of decriminalisation, which brings with it a whole new list of conflicts and absurdities.

[DrB0b]

I also think they should be used in manufacturing. The UK may even get some sort of manufacturing industry again.

Unfortunately the poor quality of most British convicts isn't up to manufacturers standards. Lampshades made from their skin tear easily and the needle-marks are ugly, the hair is generally greasy and thin and doesn't reach EU standard 1987/0-32 for insulation or flame-retardance. Their bones, being rich in nitrates and sulphates, make excellent fertilisers but sadly those who are most insistent on putting convicts to good use are also the most vocally against having convict rendering and recycling plants in their neighbourhoods.

[Marmite the Dog]

Unfortunately the poor quality of most British convicts isn't up to manufacturers standards. Lampshades made from their skin tear easily and the needle-marks are ugly, the hair is generally greasy and thin and doesn't reach EU standard 1987/0-32 for insulation or flame-retardance. Their bones, being rich in nitrates and sulphates, make excellent fertilisers but sadly those who are most insistent on putting convicts to good use are also the most vocally against having convict rendering and recycling plants in their neighbourhoods.

Some good points there Bob. I'll think more carefully before posting my thoughts in future.

[Lily]

Should we jail people for being in possession of heroin, and then give them heroin whilst they're inside? Cor blimey mate, you serious?

They are not being given all the drugs they want, but if they are addicted to heroin, coming off cold turkey can kill them. They haven't been sentenced to death.

Also, this is about needles being given out, not drugs. The drugs are a fact of life in prisons and you can turn your head or make clean needles available so that the spread of disease is lessened.