Euro MP calls for heroin to be supplied on the NHS

[klaatu]

http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/

June 8, 2006

Euro MP calls for heroin to be supplied on the NHS

A EURO MP is calling for heroin addicts to have access to the drug in special National Health Service (NHS) clinics.

North-west MEP Chris Davies says that medical prescription of heroin could break the link with criminal drug suppliers, save lives and reduce harm to the rest of society.

A research study in the medical journal, The Lancet claims that in Zurich the approach has led to an 82 per cent decline in heroin use over the past ten years.
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More than 50 percent of burglaries in Britain are attributed to drug use, and the country has the highest rate of drug-associated deaths in Europe.

Chris Davies says that Britain's 280,000 problematic drug users should be treated as victims and as patients requiring medical help.

The Liberal Democrat MEP said: "I've long argued that we must break the link between the criminals who make huge sums of money out of supplying drugs and the people upon whom they prey.

"Providing addicts with heroin through the NHS can undermine the criminals, and stops users have to steal, turn to prostitution, or sell drugs themselves in order to pay for their habit."


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