Pubdate: Sun, 19 May 2002
Source: Observer, The (UK)
Copyright: 2002 The Observer
Contact:  http://www.observer.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/315
Author: Kamal Ahmed, Martin Bright

HEROIN ON THE NHS FOR ADDICTS

Prescriptions To Tackle Drug Crime

Key Report Urges 'Shooting Galleries'

Thousands of addicts will be prescribed heroin at GPs' surgeries to tackle 
Britain's soaring drug addiction rate.

The controversial move follows a detailed investigation by the House of 
Commons Home Affairs Select Committee. This week it will recommend a 
nationwide network of 'safe injecting areas', where addicts can use 
diamorphine, or 'medical heroin', prescribed on the NHS.

In a move which will be attacked by some members of the medical profession, 
who say it is not their job to solve the drug problem, the report will say 
the chaotic lifestyle of Britain's 240,000 heroin addicts has to be 
addressed. Government sources last night indicated that increased use of 
diamorphine would be given the go-ahead.

The report, which comes at the end of a 10-month investigation, is likely 
to change the nature of the debate about drugs in Britain. As revealed in 
The Observer earlier this year, it will also recommend that cannabis is 
downgraded from a Class B drug to a Class C drug and that ecstasy is moved 
from a Class A drug to Class B.

It will be suggested that rather than simply locking up heroin addicts, 
they must be allowed to bring their lives under control by being prescribed 
the drug without having to resort to the criminal underworld.

Safe injecting areas, otherwise known as 'shooting galleries', should be 
set up across the country after pilot schemes to test that they work. 
Without them, the report will say, Britain will fail to tackle the heroin 
problem which has seen the number of addicts increase from just 1,000 in 1971.

Drugs education must also be boosted and treatment centres given much more 
cash.

The committee heard evidence that billions of pounds of crime is linked to 
heroin and crack cocaine use. In comparison, the dangers of drugs such as 
ecstasy and cannabis were far less.

The first country to experiment with safe injecting areas was Australia, 
followed by the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and Spain. The Australian 
authorities were condemned by the United Nations for officially condoning 
drug taking and breaching UN drugs laws.

The select committee report is likely to be heavily attacked by drug crime 
victims. Norman Brennan, director of the Victims of Crime Trust and a 
friend of Paul and Janet Betts, whose daughter Leah died after taking an 
ecstasy tablet in 1995, said: 'Why have we allowed ourselves to get to the 
appalling position of saying that if we can't combat drugs then we have to 
live with them?'

The Home Office has said that it will 'fully appraise' the findings of the 
report before responding next month. David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, 
has already signalled that he wants an extension to the prescription of 
heroin, allowing more licensed GPs to give out diamorphine from December.

There are now only 30 in the country, prescribing heroin to about 300 
users. The Government wants the number of users to increase to 1,500 as a 
first stage.

The Home Secretary is also likely to lay an order before the House of 
Commons in June amending the Misuse of Drugs Act so that cannabis can be 
downgraded. Home Office officials said that reclassifying ecstasy was 'not 
on the agenda'.

Sources have told The Observer that the committee, chaired by the highly 
respected Labour MP, Chris Mullin, was often split on the liberal tone of 
the report.

Angela Watkinson, a Conservative member of the committee, was so incensed 
by it that she has refused to sign the final version. David Winnick, a 
Labour member, wanted to go further but his amendment on legalising 
cannabis was defeated.

Roger Howard, chief executive of the DrugScope charity, said: 'If the 
committee recommends a move from a punitive drugs policy to a preventative, 
health-based one, it could be the most important move in 30 years.'

The move to diamorphine is likely to boost shares in Powderject, the drugs 
firm run by Labour Party donor Paul Drayson. It supplies the drug to the NHS.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens