Pubdate: Sat, 11 Mar 2006
Source: Edinburgh Evening News (UK)
Copyright: 2006 The Scotsman Publications Ltd
Contact:  http://www.edinburghnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1626
Author: Liam Rudden
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

WHY I'VE NO TIME FOR DRUG ADDICTS

ANOTHER week, another innocent life destroyed by drugs. There is, it 
would appear, in Edinburgh and the Lothians, a widely-held belief 
that drug addicts are victims. Quite simply, they're not.

The child brought up in squalor because their parent thinks of 
nothing but their next hit is a victim; the elderly neighbour who 
lives next door to a junkie, and the inherent risks that brings, is a 
victim; and citizens, like you and me, whose taxes and National 
Insurance contributions are squandered on a methadone programme that 
allows addicts to indefinitely substitute one drug with another, are victims.

All of which has been highlighted once again by the death of toddler 
Derek Doran, whose parents were allowed to have the methadone he 
mistook for a soft drink in the family home.

What I can't get my head around is the fact that anyone could believe 
leaving a child to the mercy of the whims of a drug-addicted parent, 
or parents, is without danger.

That two-year-old Derek was not even on the "at-risk" register 
beggars belief, and smacks of negligence on someone's part.

Surely now, in the light of this case, and those of Michael McGarrity 
and Caleb Ness, a lesson must be learned.

The time has come to remove the responsibility of deciding which 
child is at risk from support agencies, and instead recognise that 
ALL children living with a parent, or parents, known to be heroin 
addicts are automatically at risk.

The child must be put first, instead of blindly pursuing a remit to 
reform the drug abuser, a mission often undertaken by support 
agencies with a fervour akin to that of the battered spouse who stays 
with their abusive partner, convinced that their love will change 
them. As experience shows, it seldom does.

As for the methadone programme, which lies at the heart of this 
latest tragedy, it is nothing short of legalised drug dealing - and, 
ironically, as many addicts have testified, kicking methadone is a 
damn sight harder than weaning yourself off heroin.

Some MSPs have now called for a change in the law to prevent another 
child from accidentally drinking the lethal substance - but it's the 
old story of too little too late. The Scottish Executive must surely 
have been aware of the practice of permitting the substitute drug to 
be taken home. If not, why not?

And if so, then it should have been apparent that there was a 
conflict of interests - the "welfare" of the parent versus the danger 
to the child. Hopefully a change in the law will be forthcoming.

In the short-term, as GPs' surgeries become satellite hospitals, with 
everything from wart to minor surgery clinics becoming community 
based, a surgery-run methadone service could easily be accommodated.

In the longer term, it's worth taking on board the call this week 
from Edinburgh's drugs tsar, Tom Wood, who has urged the Scottish 
Executive to consider prescribing heroin, and not methadone, to 
addicts, as research has shown that providing the class A drug to 
certain addicts could prove more helpful. It's certainly worth a 
thought, as currently there are more than 3000 people a year being 
prescribed methadone in Lothian, at a cost of almost UKP2 million. 
How better could that money be spent?

Either way, there must be a time limit on the supply.

Drug programmes should not be allowed to become the easy option when 
it comes to scoring, and during any programme, parents should have 
the responsibility for looking after their children removed. It may 
sound callous, but at some stage in their life most junkies made a 
choice to negate their social responsibility and escape into a 
chemically-induced nirvana; a life changing decision that leaves 
their child in danger, and is a drain on society's limited resources.

We all have difficult choices to make, that's what life is about.

However, if addicts don't want to follow the advice of Renton and his 
Trainspotting friends and "Choose Life", then why should the rest of 
us waste our own caring about what happens to them?
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom