Someone is taking an approach to currently illegal drugs
that does not meet with the approval of the legendarily foul mouthed Paul
Dacre. This cannot be allowed to pass unpunished. So the Vagina Monologue has
summoned Melanie “not just Barking but
halfway to Upminster” Phillips to administer one of her characteristically
unhinged rants in the culprits’ general direction.
Not even slightly fair and balanced
Brighton has a problem with drug use: the number of premature
drug-related
deaths had in the past put the city at
the top of a singularly infamous league. So an Independent Drugs Commission
was set up. Its members generally work with addicts, and it takes advice from
public bodies including the Police. But its vice chair Mike Trace has incurred
Mad Mel’s displeasure.
“The
drug zealot I exposed a decade ago and how the BBC's promoting his plan for
heroin 'shooting galleries'” screams the headline. Yes, it’s all about “zealots” (that would not include those
at the Mail who zealously peddle
propaganda, of course) and the hated BBC. Seasoned Mail watchers will not be surprised to learn that the Beeb is not “promoting” anything, and that it’s not “his” plan.
All that has happened is that the Commission has produced a
report with recommendations (see HERE
[.pdf]), one of which is “The Health and
Wellbeing Board and Safe in the City Partnership should convene a working group
led by the local authority, NHS and Police, to explore and make recommendations
about the feasibility of establishing a form of consumption room as part of the
range of drug treatment services in the city”.
So what’s the problem here? It’s that “consumption room”, because, as Mel screams at her readers, this is
really a “shooting gallery”. In her
version of reality, this can only promote and increase drug use, and the BBC
reporting on the proposal must therefore mean the Corporation is trying to do
just that.
Mel then wheels out the usual suspects, those who take her
view that there is some realistic prospect of wiping illegal drugs from the
streets, despite the sad reality that the only place in the United Kingdom off
the supply map is part of the Western Isles. In her world, there has to be lots
of arresting and convictions. That this has
been tried for more than 40 years, and failed, is not allowed to enter.
In the days when heroin was available legally, there were
perhaps a hundred addicts in the UK. Then the trade was handed over to
organised criminality, with
the results that are all too familiar. They don’t call them “pushers” for nothing. Moves to bring
down the death rate due to products over which there is zero quality control
should be welcomed. Instead, they are howled down by frothing pundits.
Some in the UK want to improve matters. Melanie Phillips is not one of them.
As someone who has worked on the front line of class A drug abuse there are a couple of points I would like to make. The first is that the drug laws in this country have come from Fleet Street for far too long. The second point is that Fleet Street has blood on it's hands. Thousands have died because of Fleet Streets dominance of the drugs debate. Thousands will continue to die. Lastly, a fact. Methadone is far more toxic than heroin and is more addictive than heroin. Any heroin addict will tell you that coming off methadone is absolutely horrendous and, without proper care, can be dangerous. So why prescribe methadone? Because it's not heroin.
ReplyDeleteOur drug laws, and the continuing adherence to them because of the vote sapping rabid reactions of the gutter press, are criminal. They kill people, create millions of pounds of property crime throughout the UK, rip families and communities apart and much else besides.
But yeah, make no mistake. Fleet Street has blood on its hands. And it's too damn arrogant to even realise it. Excuse me whilst I reach for my sick bag...