COMMENT
They said what..?
Spotlight on the national media
DRUG TREATMENT is just as
politically and morally charged
as drug use – a factor we rarely
witness in other areas of health
such as cancer or cardiac care.
Drug treatment doesn’t enjoy
the privilege of being based
on evidence – even though we
have ample evidence from the
government’s own scientific
advisors – but in political ideology.
This matters not in an abstract
theoretical way, but a very real one.
It determines who lives, and who
doesn’t.
The UK already has the highest
number of drug-related deaths
in Europe and every year we
manage to set new records for
those dying due to drugs. Rather
than treat this problem with the
urgency and attention it deserves,
Drug treatment
doesn’t enjoy the
privilege of being
based on evidence
– even though
we have ample
evidence from the
government’s own
scientific advisors
– but in political
ideology.
the government explains these
thousands of premature deaths
away by saying they are due to an
ageing cohort of drug users.
Remember they are describing
people in their forties; you must
go back far more than a century
to find average life expectancy
reaching 40.
Ian Hamilton, Independent,
1 June
IF I EVER FEEL THE NEED to have
several nice cold buckets of slime
tipped over my head, I point out
that most of the supposed terrorist
attacks in this country are, in fact,
the work of solitary drug-crazed
losers. The drug involved is most
often marijuana, though steroids
are also increasingly implicated, as
are some prescription medications.
But it is mainly marijuana,
which is just now the subject of a
huge billionaire-backed campaign
to allow it to be advertised on TV
and sold in supermarkets. Yes, that
is what legalisation means. Within
seconds one choir of morons will
be yelling that I am ‘an apologist
for Islamic terror’. No, I am not.
I hate terrorism of all kinds and
wish we did not give into it so
often. As I turn to deal with them,
a second choir of morons will begin
to howl that marijuana has no
links with mental illness or crime,
is a valuable medicine, and how
dare I damage its chances of being
legalised?
Peter Hitchens, Mail on Sunday,
28 June
EVERYWHERE I GO I see groups
of kids drinking and smoking in
parks, with no regard for social
distancing, the unmistakable smell
of marijuana filling the air.
Deprived of the guidance
provided by school structures and
teachers, how many 16-year-olds
will not return in September, and
instead embrace the worst of street
culture and become lost to the lure
of drugs and county lines gangs?
Sarah Vine, Mail, 24 June
Be a different
kind of Nurse,
be a Delphi Nurse
want to talk about
LGBTQ+ issues?
we are with you.
Every Wednesday from
1-7pm we have a specialist
advisor on our webchat
service to chat about
chemsex and drug and
alcohol issues for gay and
bi men and MSM.
Visit wearewithyou.org.uk
to chat to us online.
@DelphiMedical
DelphiMedical
delphi-medical
To view our vacancies visit:
delphimedical.co.uk
24 • DRINK AND DRUGS NEWS • JULY/AUGUST 2020
WWW.DRINKANDDRUGSNEWS.COM