July 2020 | Page 24

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