2,700 drug abusers in Lancashire (From Chorley Citizen)

OMG, I sooo needed these people to tell me all this! I am sooo glad that they are there to tell me, everyone else living in Lancashire what we already know! And there's this other thing: that drugs lead to crime. Gee.

Yet these 'abusers' still get more help on the NHS, elsewhere than other people with disabilities, terminal illnesses. Where can they go to get help? Unless they all start taking cocaine then get all the help under the sun. Thing is, drugs are self inflected - please stop trying to justify or 'understand' why people take them, they do it through CHOICE. Then they usually destroy other people's lives and communities. They are not 'victims'.
Educate all you like, people will still take them. Then expect everyone else in society to 'understand' and 'forgive' them and at the cost to other more vital services!

So what's new,I'll bet they're all on disability too.

Soon they will all be able to come to Clitheroe on the train and get fresh needles and do a bit of robbing while they are in Town. As soon as the new Drugs Rehab Unit opens. Good Stuff!!!

its time to stop pandering to low lifes we have been doing it for years and it dosent work in my opinion the current bending over backwards policy for drug users actually encourages drug abuse ,how about new guidelines for drug fuelled crime ,first offence 6 months prison ,no rehab no treatment just cold turkey and hard labour ,secound offence 12 months ,third 24 months etc etc sentencing needs to focus more on being a detterent than a helpline

@ Davidoff

I don't think anyone is suggesting that drug users are victims. Of course they start taking drugs/drinking booze through choice, but all too often addiction grips people and compels them to carry on beyond what they wanted.
A small percentage of drug addicts commit crimes to feed their habit.

Most drug addicts are pleasant, friendly, kind individuals who have got into a habit because they needed a way of dealing with big problems in their life.

Society can respond to this problem in two ways. We could label all drugs as evil and dangerous and lock up anyone who is found in possession of them. If you include alcohol and tobacco, this would criminalise the majority of people in this country. If you don't include alcohol and tobacco, you would still be criminalising about 5 million. Any idea how much it would cost society to lock up that many people?

The alternative is to provide help to people who are having serious problems, which is what happens. This is both cheaper for society and more effective.
You are right that the majority of people with serious drug problems claim benefits. Why is that? Perhaps because employers have so many taboos against people who use illegal drugs, yet turn a blind eye to the ones who nip down the pub every lunchtime?
What do you think would happen if you took those benefits away from the serious drug addicts?

But I think your assertion that it's easier to get treatment for drug addiction than for "disability" or "terminal illness" is wrong. Have you any stats on that?

Just to say “Thanks” to the Blackburn Police for their continuing anti drug initiatives!
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If only politicians would show that they want to do something about this as well.

I think there's a nought missing

no, that was just in one town of lancs....theyre still counting the rest...

one of them lives on hope street blackburn.....no hope street

johnbrokenwillow wrote:
@ Davidoff I don't think anyone is suggesting that drug users are victims. Of course they start taking drugs/drinking booze through choice, but all too often addiction grips people and compels them to carry on beyond what they wanted. A small percentage of drug addicts commit crimes to feed their habit. Most drug addicts are pleasant, friendly, kind individuals who have got into a habit because they needed a way of dealing with big problems in their life. Society can respond to this problem in two ways. We could label all drugs as evil and dangerous and lock up anyone who is found in possession of them. If you include alcohol and tobacco, this would criminalise the majority of people in this country. If you don't include alcohol and tobacco, you would still be criminalising about 5 million. Any idea how much it would cost society to lock up that many people? The alternative is to provide help to people who are having serious problems, which is what happens. This is both cheaper for society and more effective. You are right that the majority of people with serious drug problems claim benefits. Why is that? Perhaps because employers have so many taboos against people who use illegal drugs, yet turn a blind eye to the ones who nip down the pub every lunchtime? What do you think would happen if you took those benefits away from the serious drug addicts? But I think your assertion that it's easier to get treatment for drug addiction than for "disability" or "terminal illness" is wrong. Have you any stats on that?

A balanced, informed and rational post here John. Quite the opposite of the ignorant frothings usually posted around articles like this by the "holier than thou " brigade.
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Ps. I would'nt bother trying to "reason" with the "unreasonable". They have only one view...
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Their own

NICEONESUNSHINE wrote:

johnbrokenwillow wrote: @ Davidoff I don't think anyone is suggesting that drug users are victims. Of course they start taking drugs/drinking booze through choice, but all too often addiction grips people and compels them to carry on beyond what they wanted. A small percentage of drug addicts commit crimes to feed their habit. Most drug addicts are pleasant, friendly, kind individuals who have got into a habit because they needed a way of dealing with big problems in their life. Society can respond to this problem in two ways. We could label all drugs as evil and dangerous and lock up anyone who is found in possession of them. If you include alcohol and tobacco, this would criminalise the majority of people in this country. If you don't include alcohol and tobacco, you would still be criminalising about 5 million. Any idea how much it would cost society to lock up that many people? The alternative is to provide help to people who are having serious problems, which is what happens. This is both cheaper for society and more effective. You are right that the majority of people with serious drug problems claim benefits. Why is that? Perhaps because employers have so many taboos against people who use illegal drugs, yet turn a blind eye to the ones who nip down the pub every lunchtime? What do you think would happen if you took those benefits away from the serious drug addicts? But I think your assertion that it's easier to get treatment for drug addiction than for "disability" or "terminal illness" is wrong. Have you any stats on that?

A balanced, informed and rational post here John. Quite the opposite of the ignorant frothings usually posted around articles like this by the "holier than thou " brigade. . Ps. I would'nt bother trying to "reason" with the "unreasonable". They have only one view... . Their own

that is a very interesting comment to compare the different aspects of drug addiction, i would say though that comparing herion addiction is slightly different from a pint at the pub, due to its physical come down, which heroin users will steal to avoid that state of immense physical and maybe phycological pain,

you also say that a small amount of people steal to feed there addiction is that based on facts??? or do you sit in a government office pushing a pen on 300,000 a week with a bag on your head??

yes drink is a problem and drugs and smoking etc... but then you have heroin.. i used to smoke cigarettes and hell yes it was hard and still is from time to time,but would never of thought of mugging an old lady to buy a pack of fags nor a pint for that matter either when i was trying to quit..

Hi Hazeyverdict, thanks for your reply.

Comparing heroin addiction to a pint at the pub might be foolish, but comparing heroin addiction with alcohol addiction is entirely relevant. In fact the withdrawal symptoms suffered by an alcoholic can be worse than the "rattle" from heroin, and even fatal.

Alcohol users are just as likely as users of other drugs to be in denial about their addiction, but make no mistake, medium to high dependency on alcohol is rife in this country. I saw one statistic that reckoned some 45% of 16-24 year olds regularly drink more than the recommended safe limits.

It is meaningless to debate drug-related crime without talking about alcohol. It is meaningless to debate the impact of drugs on our society without including alcohol. I wonder how many thousands of people are brought into casualty departments every week in this country following drink-driving accidents, street violence and domestic violence, fuelled by alcohol. Also, plenty of alcoholics will steal to get their booze money.

Reliable data about drug use and crime is notoriously difficult to compile, since most people are inclined to lie when asked by surveyers about illegal activities. Also the people who compile these statistics are often, as you describe, pen-pushers who have never met a heroin addict.
Since I work in the field (I help people out of addiction, for a crappy charity wage) I have a good idea of some of the best estimates, if you are after some hard data then a good trawl around the NTA, British Crime Survey websites, or that of the office for national statistics, will give you a good start.

To the best of my knowledge, around 200,000 people are in treatment for drug addiction nationally. The majority of these are heroin and/or crack users; about three quarters of those admit to indulging in acquisitive crime - most commonly "buying and selling", begging or prostitution. Shoplifting, burglary and robbery also happen, clearly, but are less common. Mostly, even the most desperate addicts do not physically attack people to get their money.
Nonetheless that is a lot of people committing crimes and it's a serious problem. These days people arrested for such "trigger offences" and testing postive are pushed into treatment programmes if at all possible. It is likely that there are a considerable number of similar people who are not being treated.
However, these figures are still tiny compared to the total numbers using illegal drugs, which runs in the millions. The majority of these people, who are cannabis and ecstasy users, are like you and I, in that they would not even consider committing crimes to fund their habits. It is only the most entrenched addicts who ever reach that stage.