Pubdate: Sun, 14 May 2006
Source: Sunday Herald, The (UK)
Copyright: 2006 Sunday Herald
Contact:  http://www.sundayherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/873
Author: Iain Macwhirter
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

FANCY A DASH OF BROMIDE IN THAT METHADONE?

SPEAKING personally, I'd cut their goolies off. It's the only 
language these people understand. Why should they be allowed to 
continue having children when they are a burden on the state? Haven't 
they caused enough trouble without inflicting their offspring on 
society, creating another generation of damaged sociopaths?

Yes, it's time to stop Labour MSPs like Duncan McNeil from 
reproducing. They should have contraceptives introduced into their 
beer. Or their wives' beer, or whatever they drink nowadays in 
Greenock and Inverclyde. It's time to start playing hardball - or no 
balls at all. If oral contraception doesn't work, castration has the 
great merit of being 100% effective. I rest my case.

McNeil's plan for dosing the methadone of heroin addicts with 
contraceptives may have been loopy, but there was political method in 
the madness. Labour want to convince voters that they are tough on 
smack in time for the next Holyrood elections. The squeals from 
social workers and liberal lawyers that compulsory contraception is a 
cruel breach of human rights were just what they wanted.

When the toddler Derek Doran died last year after drinking the 
methadone prescribed for his mother, Jack McConnell gave the green 
light to his backbenchers to think the unthinkable. They've been only 
too willing to oblige.

However, a number of practical and ethical problems are presented by 
Mr McNeil's plan: what about Catholic drug addict parents? Would they 
be forced to consume contraceptives, which the Church insists is an 
offence against the law of God and a grave sin? And why should it 
only be women who are targeted? Surely the Labour sisterhood should 
demand equal treatment for male drug addicts. How about a dash of 
bromide in the methadone?

And if we are to stop drug addicts breeding, why not alcoholics? 
Surely they too should be prevented from committing random acts of 
procreation. You can' t rely on brewer's droop.

What about the criminal population? We don't want all those foreign 
murderers and rapists released into the community by Charles Clarke 
to start families. Asylum seekers could be given contraceptives in 
their tea. Then there are people with disabilities .

Of course, the Scottish Executive has distanced itself from Mr 
McNeil's proposals, but it is looking at other ways of dealing with 
the children of drug addicts which are almost as alarming. The First 
Minister has made it clear that he wants to see the children of drug 
addicts taken into care, en masse if necessary. Presumably this is so 
they can be properly trained in the ways of hard drugs, as children 
in care are far more likely to end up using drugs than those who live 
with their natural parents.

The recent changes to the rules on adoption, allowing same-sex 
couples to adopt on the same basis as heterosexuals, was partly 
inspired by the expected demand for care as the First Minister's 
child snatch squads sweep the housing estates to liberate the 
offspring of crack-heads. But I'm not so sure that any couple would 
be keen to take on the responsibilities for 11-year-old addicts.

So, the state will inevitably become the parent of last resort. There 
are around 50,000 children who live in families where at least one 
adult is misusing drugs. That's an awful lot of children's homes 
McConnell will be opening. Perhaps he could enlist the help of the 
private sector. I'm sure Premier Prisons, which runs Kilmarnock jail 
so efficiently, could open up secure units for drug children at a 
very reasonable cost. Private sponsors could be encouraged to fund 
these establishments, which could be called "homes of ambition".

This is, of course, a serious problem and we shouldn't make light of 
it, but the Scottish Executive isn't making a lot of sense right now 
- - and the likes of Duncan McNeil are positively inviting derision. 
The First Minister seems to be untroubled by criticism from 
children's organisations and from the Child Commissioner for Scotland 
Kathleen Marshall that "yo-yoing" children in and out of care only 
makes this problem worse. But last week, McConnell announced the 
Hidden Harm - Next Steps programme which includes a new fostering 
agency to look after the new charges of the state. He said that 
"chaotic" drug abuse was incompatible with effective parenting. But 
what about orderly drug taking? Perhaps if the addled parents were on 
regular prescription doses of heroin, their children might be in less 
obvious danger.

Contrary to popular belief, people can survive perfectly well for 
many years and behave quite normally on heroin. A study last year by 
Glasgow Caledonian University found that many were holding down 
normal jobs and relationships and passing exams.

It may be difficult to envisage the state taking over the drugs trade 
and providing a regular supply of narcotics to Scotland's 40-60,000 
addicts, but it would keep them off the streets, and cut crime pretty 
dramatically. The police themselves admit the war against drugs is 
being lost, and some officers in Strathclyde have even suggested that 
drugs should be legalised, even hard drugs such as heroin.

There's no guarantee that returning to the policies of the 1960s, 
when heroin was prescribed to addicts by doctors, will stop the drugs 
trade in its tracks. But one thing is certain: if we go on as we are 
today, the numbers of people on drugs will only increase, as will the 
danger to children.

And with MSPs like Duncan McNeil on the loose, there's no knowing 
where things will end up.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman