HEROIN - THE DRUG THAT GIVES ALL DRUGS A BAD NAME!
Needless Victims: It costs £800 per week to keep someone in jail. Heroin users, driven by their addiction and the resultant cravings, often end up inside because they rob and steal from individuals and shops to try and finance their habit. As they do this they drag innocent members of the public into the equation, who become victims of crime that is unnecessary and avoidable. Crime that could simply be eradicated by giving the heroin addicts what they need, just the same as we would with any other illness.
Cheaper To Give: Chasing and tracking down addicts and mopping up the trail of crime soaks up police and judicial system resources and costs the public a lot of money. Money that could be used elsewhere. It is cheaper to give addicts what they need and save the misery and heartache of innocent victims and the unfortunate addicts alike. Nobody wants to be a heroin addict, however, due to ignorance, some people end up becoming so.
Truth Buried: Society's own ignorance in dealing with drugs means that the real truth gets buried. Unfortunately this means that young people, on the road to exploration, can easily become victim to heroin, persuaded because they know no better and have not been properly informed or educated as to what it does.
It's A Disease! Heroin addiction is a disease and should be recognised as such. Society normally gives drugs freely to combat disease and yet heroin addicts are forced to steal, scavenge and prostitute themselves in order to get the drug they need to avert illness. Without the drug, addicts become physically sick experiencing symptoms such as severe muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, even death.
Common Sense? Afghan heroin is flooding the streets. Afghan farmers grow and harvest the raw opium because they cannot otherwise afford to feed their people. They get very little for it and just scrape a living. The opium is refined and processed by drug syndicates and then smuggled to the west. The farmers are caught in a poverty trap and this is exploited by the crime syndicates and drug smugglers. However, there are solutions. If cannabis was legalised, the Afghan farmers could grow this instead and could sell directly to legitimate outlets in the west. Plus heroin could be purchased directly by our government who could then give it to the unfortunate addicts and save them having to commit crime or prostitute themselves. Where is our compassion and common sense?
Education Is Vital! Worldwide there are more than eleven million heroin users. Nearly all say they want to give it up. However, it is not that easy. How on earth was this situation allowed to develop in the first place? Do people have to experience falling out of an aeroplane without a parachute to know what happens? Can we not just show them what the effects are? Looking at and listening to heroin addicts talking about their lives and the problems they now have is not a pretty sight. It says all that needs to be said!
Note - A lack of clean syringes and legitimate control helped to fuel an AIDS epidemic in the eighties (Drugs Inc.)