Hundreds more heroin addicts to be given a fix on the NHS

[D-Notice]

Heroin clinics hit the UK. It's about time - it'll take them out of the hands of the drug dealers & into the hands of doctors.

Hundreds more heroin addicts will be able to get the drug free on the National Health Service under a Government programme.

Pilot schemes starting in June will expand the number of long-term addicts given injectable heroin if they fail to respond to other treatments such as methadone.

Ministers have been advised by drug treatment specialists that the introduction of "heroin clinics" in Switzerland and Holland during the 1990s significantly reduced drug-related crime and other social problems.

[Warpy]

1. They tried this some years ago

during a 10 year pilot project. They found it decreased street crime by 80%. They also found one very surprising thing: 50% of the hardcore addicts had weaned themselves off the drugs by the time the program had ended, 10 years later. No rehab program has ever achieved that level of success!

As a surgical nurse, I saw classic drug seeking behavior among postop patients who were dependent on nurses to get them their medications when they needed them. The inescapable conclusion is that the illegality and the fact that the supply is not consistent are adding to the whole problem of addictive behaviours.

I would love to see an end to the drug war. It has been a miserable failure, unless its stated aim was to remove the civil liberties guaranteed to us in the Bill of Rights.

I applaud the UK for taking the first logical step in treating its addicted citizens.

[D-Notice]

2. Where was it based?

If it was that successful, it was a stupid idea for end it after 10 yrs - they should've kept it going