LETTERS AND COMMENT
RETHINK THE CLINK
You ran a very interesting article about prison and drug use ( DDN , April , p6 ). I believe the whole system needs to change . The prisons are full of drug dependent inmates who are in there due to committing crime to fund their use . We need to differentiate between the criminal and the dependent drug user .
I have lived experience of both addiction and a 13-year jail sentence for drug offences which I was doing to feed my habit . I believe if someone who is dependent commits a crime , and the crime was to feed the habit , then we should look at a treatment option instead of jail . If someone commits a crime which warrants five years for example , give them the option of treatment and the chance to address the issue which is causing the problem – don ’ t just throw them in jail and make the future very difficult for them , to find employment etc . If that does not work , then they do the five years . Not all , but a good number , would complete treatment and could be on probation for the sentence time and turn their lives around .
Also , the cost would be far cheaper . It costs around £ 50,000 to keep someone in jail for a year but around £ 10,000 for treatment . Maybe some of the funds saved could be used to create training courses and part-fund job roles to give purpose and structure . Jail spaces would be freed up and those suffering would get the specialised help needed , as I did . Drug laws , the ‘ war on drugs ’ – it all needs to change . We need a good shake-up because what we have does not work and only makes the problem worse .
Keep up the good work . Paul Huggett , Birmingham & West Midlands manager , The Hepatitis C Trust
I ’ LL DRINK TO THAT
So , to no one ’ s great surprise , Scottish MPs have voted to extend MUP and to put the price up to 65p per unit . It ’ s probably the right thing to do . What bothers me , though , is the level of disinformation around this particular subject . Of the ( I think ) 40-odd reports into MUP in Scotland , only around eight looked into the health aspect – most were on the impact on the hospitality industry , and so on . Of those eight , I think I ’ m right in saying most were inconclusive . The one that trumpeted the positive health impact was from Public Health Scotland , ie a department of the government that introduced the legislation in the first place – hardly an impartial observer .
With alcohol deaths in Scotland at their highest ever level , the extent of the ‘ evidence ’ appears to be that they ’ d be higher still in a parallel universe in which MUP hadn ’ t been introduced . Pretty robust . And even the Public Health Scotland report acknowledged that – unsurprisingly – some dependent drinkers were cutting back on food and other essentials to buy alcohol since the prices went up . Large sections of the British media , however , happily – and uncritically – trot out the line that MUP has ‘ saved thousands of lives ’, using the same template as for many other issues . That is , if something doesn ’ t fit their preferred narrative , they simply don ’ t report it , or leave out the bits they don ’ t like .
At the most basic level , price clearly has an impact – with alcohol , or any other product . If a bottle of wine was two pounds , they ’ d sell lots more wine . If it was a million pounds , they ’ d sell very little . So as I said , I think keeping MUP was probably the right thing to do . I ’ d just appreciate a little bit more honesty on the subject , that ’ s all . James Palmer , by email
Gloucester
Scotland
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