READERS' VIEWS

There Are As Many Opinions And Solutions To The Drugs Problem As There Are
Drugs. But Which Is The Real Answer?

DEPUTY justice minister Dr Richard Simpson's emphasis on rehabilitation and
harm reduction will no doubt facilitate cost-effective drug treatment. The
zero tolerance approach compels problem drug users to suffer in silence.
Would alcoholics seek help for their illness if doing so were tantamount to
confessing to criminal activity?

While Scotland adopts a sensible public health approach, the culture wars
are heating up in America. President Bush is now pushing "compassionate
coercion" for users of non-traditional drugs, with America's millions of
cannabis smokers the likely target of Bush's "compassion." Coerced
treatment does not distinguish between occasional use and chronic abuse.

America's zero tolerance drug policy is not based on health outcomes, but
rather cultural norms. Unlike alcohol, cannabis has never been shown to
cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of
tobacco. Unfortunately, cannabis represents the counterculture to
reactionaries intent on legislating their version of morality.

Despite draconian penalties and perhaps because of "forbidden fruit"
appeal, lifetime use of cannabis is higher in the US than any European
country. The US now has the highest incarceration rate in the world, in
large part due to the war on some drugs. Scotland should Just Say No to the
American Inquisition.

Robert Sharpe, Drug Policy Alliance, Washington, USA

Peace Dividend

AT last the politicians are starting to see sense after years of being told
by all who were working at the coal face of the drugs scene that they had
got it badly wrong ("Ministers declare: 'war on drugs' is over", News,
March 3).

I worked in the drug scene in New York in 1965 and have watched with horror
as our political masters kept importing American solutions to our drugs
problem. None of these solutions were working in the US so why did they
continue to believe that they would work here?

Many drugs and youth workers like myself have worked against the political
dogma by trying to counter the Just Say No approaches. At last we are being
listened to, but at what cost to thousands of families in Scotland?

Politicians have known for 20 years that sending addicts to prison is a
complete waste of public money yet they have constantly increased police
budgets to round up more addicts and fill our bulging jails.

If the new slogan is to be Just Say Know with the theme of helping parents,
adults and young people to be well enough educated about all drugs to make
informed choices, then politicians will also have to face the facts that
teachers are neither streetwise enough or well enough trained to deliver
that package.

There are solutions to all of this. It starts with some real and honest
public debate in the run-up to the next round of elections. I wonder if our
politicians have the bottle for that?

Max Cruickshank, Hamilton

HOW refreshing to read such a balanced report on drugs and, in particular,
a report that looks at harm reduction and takes it seriously. Harm
reduction is obviously the only way forward. A couple of minor points, however:

You make little mention of GPs except to bemoan their unwillingness to
treat addicts. In Lothian 80% of GP practices are treating more than 2000
drug users in a shared care scheme supported by the local drug service and
by a facilitator (me!)

You suggest that the reason for not using dihydrocodeine is that it is too
expensive. Not so - it is fairly cheap. The reason for not using it is that
we have no evidence that it works.

Dr Judy Bury, Edinburgh

THE war on drugs is a disaster, and the absurd belief that it is winnable
is a sick joke.

For far too long the weak and the wretched who find themselves in the
clutches of a pernicious addiction have been treated as pariahs. The
experts who advocate the prescribing of methadone or dihydrocodeine as a
means of reducing the amount of heroin needed by sufferers, and thus
offering a path to becoming drug free, are now vindicated. The setting up
of NHS methadone programmes should become the policy of the Executive.

Greater use of drug courts across the whole of Scotland is also needed to
keep the use of imprisonment confined to the criminal, not his victims.
Addicts - although often resorting to petty criminal activity to fund their
habits - are also victims.

We all need to recognise this and to support the efforts of people who try
to help them to turn their lives around.

Howie Gibbons, Aberdeen

AT last it seems that officialdom is coming to its senses regarding the
misuse of illicit drugs. But perhaps it is also time that, as a society, we
began to take seriously the unthinkable and look at legalisation.

This doesn't mean that as a society we approve of the use of harmful
substances. What it does mean, however, is that we begin to recognise that
a serious problem exists and that it is going to take serious measures to
tackle it. The first step is the legalisation of cannabis. Together with a
measure of reclassification this also means that sale of these substances
is taken away from criminals.

The second step is making substances such as heroin available on
prescription. At least this will mean that heroin that is consumed is free
from the impurities that kill and maim users.

It will also end the suicidal practice of sharing needles. It would also
put paid to the popular misconception that methadone is an effective way to
treat people with heroin addiction. Giving a heroin addict methadone to
help them come off heroin is like giving an alcoholic super lager to come
off alcohol. Coupled with effective counselling and support services and
also pro-active programmes to catch kids before they start using, we might
just save more lives than we have done in the past.

The third step is to drastically increase bed space, both in the voluntary
and public sector, for those who need the kind of specialist services that
are required to help those who would otherwise be unable to break free from
addiction,

John Nugent, Annan

FROM day one, the Scottish Executive has undoubtedly been pursuing a
positive and pragmatic policy on tackling drug problems within its
overarching social inclusion agenda, and the drugs field will welcome the
discarding of the War On Drugs rhetoric. Deputy Justice Minister Richard
Simpson is to be congratulated on his announcement and for standing up for
a more open debate on tackling Scotland's drug problem.

The Scottish Drugs Forum (SDF) has long advocated a more consensual
approach - founded on effective responses - to tackling Scotland's drug
problems. Removing the unhelpful heat from the debate, which can all too
easily become polarised, is a necessary first step.

For too long in our response to drug use, we have been obsessed by the need
to "send out the right messages" rather than focusing on what can actually
make a difference - and doing it.

Dave Liddell, Director, Scottish Drugs Forum, Glasgow