Heroin Legal

[Laserpointer]

Hi @ ! sorry 4 my nad english.

Germanys and Austrian Politics are discuting if ist would be possible to substitute the longyear addicts (more that 5 years addiction - min 23 years old and min. 3 Therapies ) with daily diamorphin.

What is your opnion?

[ex-junkie]

it will reduce blood bourne diseases, crime, and improve their quality of life. swim doesnt agree with legalizing heroin, but she will acknowledge the benefits nonetheless.

Reputation Comments on this post:

sounds like u learn something, thats good!

[Spucky]

The Germans discussed that Topic for Years and a few Weeks ago they made the decision to make it possible to start a new real Heroin-Program!
(Have a look to the German speaking Forum!)

But this Law is formulated so squishy, i am sure there will be some Problems!
It`s Germany and a Law have to be clear and understandable, if it`s not
some People will start to fight it!

[zulu1690]

swim says good for those countries.swim thinks in another 50 years our uk politicians will wake up to the fact that they can cut crime and save lives in such an easy way.

[yaba]

In the Netherlands there are trying a project like that... Swims dad is one of the addicts who gets 2x daily dicyctalised (spell) morphine (heroine)

He is one of 25 people who the give pharmaceutical heroine to.. And see how it go's. Like they don't need to steal anymore. And can have a normal life... The heroine is taken under supervision.

[G_nome]

In the UK doctors used to prescribe heroin to addicts like 40 years ago, before the misuse of drugs act came in and Britain aligned itself with America's policy on drugs.
Though, down in Liverpool, there was a clinic run by a Dr. John Marks that prescribed heroin, and cocaine too i believe, to addicts. He used some loophole in the law to be able to do it, and his clinic ran from about 1985 up until 1995, when the government or the NHS (i forget who) terminated his contract.
In the ten years of prescribing heroin to over 400 clients he didn't have one death. In the two years after the clinic got shut down, 41 of his former clients had died.
That says it all.

[kasbeq]

Swim thinks that legalising heroin is not only a matter of how many lives you save but other factors have to be taken into account . Example how many addicts would go that extra length to fit into the criteria of eligibility for heroin maintenance. Heroin would probably not be used orally but intravenously and would that give the someone a normal and productive life ( bearing in mind that veins tend to disappear over time of extensive use) and that heroin needs to be administered several times a day. How many would decide that they want to taper and eventually lead a drug free life ( like in a case of methadone maintenance for example).
In the other hand swim thinks that there is no way of knowing unless you try -so a country doing a project like this would be watched closely by the rest and would have a lot more in terms of statistics and first hand knowledge to make a decision individually

[Benniboi]

Originally Posted by kasbeq

Swim thinks that legalising heroin is not only a matter of how many lives you save but other factors have to be taken into account . Example how many addicts would go that extra length to fit into the criteria of eligibility for heroin maintenance. Heroin would probably not be used orally but intravenously and would that give the someone a normal and productive life ( bearing in mind that veins tend to disappear over time of extensive use) and that heroin needs to be administered several times a day. How many would decide that they want to taper and eventually lead a drug free life ( like in a case of methadone maintenance for example).
In the other hand swim thinks that there is no way of knowing unless you try -so a country doing a project like this would be watched closely by the rest and would have a lot more in terms of statistics and first hand knowledge to make a decision individually

pharma grade heroin could be administered via an intramuscular route and would have the same effect- obviously without the initial rush so the iv problem may not be too much of an issue for everyone

[kasbeq]

Originally Posted by Benniboi

pharma grade heroin could be administered via an intramuscular route and would have the same effect- obviously without the initial rush so the iv problem may not be too much of an issue for everyone

I suppose swiy is right but swim still thinks it’s a double edged sword

[Dr. Amapola]

I would like to share the opinion that many folks have expressed to me, and I'm not saying that I'm 100% for or against it, I just wanted to share with you.

The theory is this: when something becomes legal that used to be illegal, society tends to show a downward trend in use over the next few years after the said thing has been legalized.

For Example:

In a study done in a random town in America, 8 out of 10 (or 80%) high-school kids admitted they tried smoking pot before(surveyed in 2006 I believe), and of those 8, about 2 admitted they were every-day smokers. The kids studied also admitted that marijuana was available and that there were many kids who used it habitually.

The same study was done in Amsterdam, where marijuana is legal, again a high school was randomly picked and students were surveyed. This time, only 4 out of 10 students (40%) admitted they tried smoking marijuana, and only one student admitted to smoking regularly, but not daily. The Amsterdam-native high school students reportedly said that "although hash is readily available here, not that many kids smoke it."

A similar study was done on alcohol, and with similar results. High school kids in Amsterdam are allowed to drink beer and cider on their lunch break while on school grounds. However the abuse of alcohol and binge-drinking amongst Amsterdam-natives is very low. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for American high school students, who drink & abuse alcohol more than any other high school-aged kids in the world.

So the theory is that when something is legal, people don't bother to abuse it to the extent that they would if/when it's illegal.

Now this is just a theory. Please, don't get the impression that I think all drugs should be legalized and that this will fix anything.

What I do believe is that the American approach to drug policy is NOT working AT ALL. The US Government needs to try a completely new approach. The old "zero tolerance" policy of violently storming drug cartels and clandestine operations, arresting common folks for minor drug charges and locking them up, etc., it does not work. There are still billions upon billions of dollars of drugs entering the country and billions more are wasted trying to stop them; a futile attempt at stopping a world-wide problem.

And I personally don't believe that drug abuse will ever be cut out of our society completely, ever. Especially not in America, because Americans do not know how to use anything in moderation. I'm saying this from experience, as I was American-born and I'm an American citizen. However, I am disgusted with my country's inability to regulate drugs and drug use within the country. Our city streets (and suburbs too) are a wash with drug addicts and alcoholics.

Change will come through a new approach and by educating the public about drugs through true information, not propaganda and scare-tactics.

In other countries legalization and regulation of narcotics like heroin and marijuana will probably work. We can only hope that the rest of the world will learn from their brave example and finally obtain some kind of order within the wild world of use, manufacture, and sale of drugs.

Reputation Comments on this post:

	Useful information.
	An interesting point of view. I think observing trends after any legalisation would be a better test of the hypothesis t...