drug addicts!!

[rugeleyboy]

if you was the prime minister or a person of power, what would you do with drug dealers and addicts??

[bobtheturkey]

inject huge doses of heroin into their systems and display their bodies in the town square with a sign around their necks stating "idiot"

[saxy_jag]

If I told you what I'd do with the dealers, this post would be banned by the mods.

However, for addicts, I'd provide loads more funding for support and rehab services, and also for post-habit support - job training, mentoring - that sort of thing.

Ex-addicts' biggest problems often come when they've kicked the habit. No-one trusts an ex-addict, no-one is prepared to take them on, offer them work or a way back into society. It's no wonder so many of them drift back into using. Some have even killed themselves, so hopeless have they felt.

[chiswicik]

i would isolate them, never letting them exposed to the public again, and give them drugs to use to their leisure. this way they will finish destroying themselves.

[Dizzieblonde]

Maybe some kind of slavery-type system - have them repairing roads, cleaning up, voluntary work or similar. And flog all their belongings and drug-related earnings.

[curlyfilm]

legalise the bloody lot, yes all drugs
how much crime is associated with drugs, who has had their broken into, house, purse nicked etc, and how many of these crimes were committed by drug users, the majority i guess
where i live 90% of the crime is committed by the the same handfull of addicts, when they are all in the holiday camp, the crime level drops, considerably
so lets get the government to sell the lot, tax free, so organised crime can't undercut, still keep selling illegal, except for government outlets
and watch our crime levels drop, especially those to the ordinary man

[mccfluff]

drug dealer's well this is the only time i wish the death penatly would comeback and as for addicts put them into compulsary treament centre's

[noxlumos]

I just despair...

[cretinz]

if I were the ******** blair id use them to keep me job so hang the scum.

[rugeleyboy]

nox, why do you despair????

i value your opinion as much as anybodys!!

[noxlumos]

Sorry rugely that wasn't directed at you, but it's just that everytime anyone mentions drug adddicts you always get the whole cacophony of calls for them all to be strung up, electrocuted, you name it and that's not going to do anything to tackle drug taking, the crime that's often associated with drug taking, getting the dealers off the streets and eliminating people's need to rely on any sort of substance in the first place.
My opinion is that there are several types of drug use, the first being recreational which a lot people do, Drs, managers etc amongst them,well respected people able to function very well who take drugs purely recerationally.
Then you have people who take drugs often but are not per se addicts like the regular ganja smokers some of whom will be using it as pain relief and some acid takers.
Then you have people who are addicted in the traditional sense, some of whom will be childrem drawn into as outlined in your other posting, and some of whom will be vulnerable adults with puppet masters who use their drug abuse to control them.
Some will be dealers who only deal to fund their own addiction and some will be dealers who don't take drugs themselves but who ensnare as many as possible to push up their customer base.
You cannot possibly treat all these people the same. Some need no action taking, some need help, and some need keeping off the streets at all costs, but the most important thing is that we need sensible strategies in place to stop people taking drugs in the first place, and at the moment these are notably lacking.
I am an ex drug and alcohol abuser but that didn't make me a write off as a person, and I mentor some ex addicts and employ others as I am all too aware that what saxy-jag says is right,it's nigh on impossible toget back into society and yeah some people do wander back to drugs, but a lot of the time given adequate support they don't, so for the most part we should give them that

[Greedyfly]

So what are we going to do with the people who are addicted to medication that they have to take, but then cannot get off of?

[Tha-Flash]

I like how this question is framed. Good way of getting people to answer.

Legalising the whole lot may sound stupid but when you think about it, it makes sense. A large amount of theft is due to the need for money and the need for money to buy drugs to support their habit. It wouldn't just be go into a supermarket and buy as much stuff as you want. It would be measured.

[IggyB]

i too was despairing when i read through this to begin with - glad that a few people here are talking some sense instead of the knee jerk string um up approach.

I see no problem with recreational drug users as I feel they cause no harm other than to themselves, I also agree that addicts in their traditional sense should be offered all the support that is possible to help them quit but if that has not proved successful then I feel that doctor prescribed drugs (e.g. pharmaceutically produced heroin etc) should be made available to these people. I think if they were treated with respect and offered a clean and secure source of medication (administered by nurses in state supported health care centres) they could again rejoin society, work, produce, and live a semi normal life without the negative impacts upon society that is presently experienced when these people need to commit crime to obtain a dirty and unhealthy supply of their drug. A benefit of this approach would also be that drug dealers income would be reduced / stopped so eventually the problems associated would be eradicated as the market for dealers is reduced

[mimififi]

the only way to deal with this 'problem' would be "Education, Education, Education."

Unlike Mr Blair, I would mean it and spend as many resources as were available to overhaul the education system, bring back apprentiships/o-t-j training and other schemes including vocationalschools (a la the old tech schools) and grammar schools etc etc so everyone's educational needs were tailored for and such that qualifications of all types were available to ALL and I mean ALL!

substance abuse is so commonly a product of poverty which is in itself a product of poor education or children who have been failed by the system.

String them up? What is that for? There for the grace of God, people....

[nicnicnic]

I think thatdrug dealers should all be hung!
Drug addicts are very vulnerable people, and often very insecure- they must be to use drugs in the first place. Drug dealers pray on these people and exploit their addiction.
If I were prime minister, the dealers would get life (where lfe means life, not 20 years) in a "proper" prison- no playstations and libraries etc!!
Drug addicts would get lots of therapy and rehabilitation.