Round the area of town i live in theres loads of Junkies/smackheads/tweakers/heroin addicts or whatever you want to call them.

We get quite a few of them at work (i live close to work) and they often go to the toilets, stairwells, fire exits etc to shoot up and we have to come along and evict them as being a "family" orientated shopping centre, junkies on site doesnt fit in with the image, plus we dont want illegal activities and the filth they leave behind on our premises (and rightly so).

Theres one thing i really dont get. we ALL know about HIV and other nastys you can get from dirty needles/needle sharing etc. And in the town centre, the local anonymous free needle exchange is 150 yards from the shopping centre. They get free sharps box, free needles, swabs etc as often as they need.

So why are the junkies round my way still sharing needles regularly??? We chat to them while we evict them from the site and you can never get a reason why they share needles despite the risks and even more strange to me, why many of them wont go to the needle exchange??? I often ask them and they say they dont go there despite knowing where it is and they dont come up with a reason, usually just shrug shoulders or say dunno.

Anyone know why they would be sooo stupid as to not go and get free needles etc???

surely between "fixs" they must have at least 1/2% of thier brain power left to rational thought like "get new clean needles" etc

Anyone with drugs knowledge able to provide an insight?????

 

Good point. And i fucking hate drugs.

 

you should just shoot them when your clearing them out.do us all a favour.

 

Drugs are bad umkay

 

they obviously dont give a shit about what there doing to there bodies so sharing a needle would mean bugger all to them...

 

Its no excuse, but tbh i think if you're a fully blown smack head in your mind where you leave the needles are the least of your troubles - its getting your nerxt hit that concerns you.

 

I do wonder how long on smack it is before their personality and who they were is permenantly destroyed.

You always get the doogooders saying that beneath the addict is a "person" so therefore its wrong to say bad things about junkies but its the way they behave that defines them and thats all negative!!

 

+! yea it's just about the next fix, once there smacked up they can't even move it's a horrible sight, there eyes roll and everything, then they're just looking for the next way to find some cash and then get there next hit so i bet clean needles don't even come into consideration.

i hate crack heads with a passion to be honest, filthy robbing scum.

 

they obviously have no will power i'v been around crack heads when i was younger but knew if i tried it i would be a bit of a twat so always stayed well clear and glad for it too, people just try it think it's good then get quickly hooked, i no getting addicted to something can be quite easy i smoked weed for years but gave up smoking at christmas and haven't touched anything since so no it can be hard to become un addicted, and i actually got bored of smoking it and realized how it was turning me into a cabbage and a bit of a lay about but smoking a bit of weed and injecting crack are different ends of the spectrum all together.

also i think people that smoke crack might not be as messed up but when you come to inject thats when you have really lost your soul and are just an empty shell

 

ok so we kill all smack heads,,, why stop there,, why not kill all alcoholics next? then maybe move onto disabled people next,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

ummm i know where this goes

 

The Welsh?!

 

they should be before the smack heads PMSL

 

yea but alcoholics and disabled people don't affect any one except themselves an alcoholics won't go out on the rob like crackheads will

 

ya if you believe that you believe anything, go into hospitol on a saturday night/sunday morning!

 

Legalize drugs, problem solved, and the goverment will get more money for MP expenses. But at least criminals dont run the drug trade and people like that can't be abused.

 

Lol Gareth!!

Killing thems a bit too far. Forced detox maybe reasonable. They always say you cant make someone give up unless they want to but surely if your that deep in the grip of heroin addiction then by definition you never will give up.

Surely forced detox then long term therapy to get to the root of the problem leading them to drugs has to be cheaper than the effects of a life of crime fed by heroin addiction???

 

pmsl!! (at the welsh comment, although .... I live in wales)

 

very naive view of the world matey...

Alcohol is responsible for hundreds of people every weekend in A&E!

Alex

 

alot of smack heads use smack to "get away" from the true pain in there lives!

 

well ok yea i stand corrected i'm thinking inside the box a little there i know, but they don't affect people like crackheads do you must admit that, and your more on about binge drinkers than alcoholics on a sat night, and drink drivers an alcoholic will be ko'd in his arm chair by sat night and still comatosed by sun morn

 

the issues surrounding alcoholism and binge drinking are different!! But yes alcoholics will also steal to feed the habbit if necessary.

I think the difference is the sheer scale of the expense of heroin and the amount of crime needed to fund the habbit!!! Alcohol is cheap by comparison, hence why many areas now give increased alcoholics benefits for diagnosed alcoholics as its cheaper!!! Heroin is horrendously expensive!!

Heroin is to blame for a lot of robberys, approx 40% of prostitutes entering/staying in the "trade", not to mention organised crime associated with dealing, smuggling, distribution etc etc etc.

 

Alcohol wipes out more people than all the classes of drugs combined...but how fucking cool do you feel with a frosy pint in your mitts wanting to pull Donna McHerpes across the pub (sarcy as you like there btw )

Class A drugs are just longterm euthanasia IMO, which is why the Govt. creates a lifelong dependable situation (in & out of shitty prisons) rather than any real hope or answers, AND skims a nice amount trafficking tonnes of it and blame crimelords & smugglers. Fucking comic book shit... i.e

 

Not true.

Youd be amazed at the sheer volume of booze a hard core alcoholic can consume and still appear just mildly drunk. A hardcore alcoholic can drink in a few hours an amount that would kill the average person!!

Hence why alcohol detox has to be such a carefully controlled process as you can kill someone if you just suddenly took away all thier booze. (thats if liver failure isnt slowly killing them instead!!).

 

yea but warren i'v seen so many crackheads detox then go straight back on it again, even if it's forced you have to actually want to quit for it to work otherwise in a week you'll be back on it, then you and i will be paying for all this forced detox programs that aren't working and i no you'll say they prob's do want to quit but there is saying it and meaning it like smokers when they say they want to quit do for a month or so then start smoking again if they really wanted to quit they would of not put that cigaret back in there mouth.

 

you gotta be joking! drinking is MUCH more a serious problem than people like to admit

 

sounds great,,, we support south american drug armys LOL

 

Sad but true in a lot of cases, but that doesnt excuse the behaviour needed to fund thier habbits.

On the flip side, lots of people have lots of pain in thier life yet choose alternatives to drugs/addictions so in that sense i wont sympathise with those who refuse to even try and help themselves.


I do sometimes wonder if aspects of heroin addiction is more about suicide and total self destruction rather than blocking pain.

 

I'm good mates with a few lads who were on it for a good few years but are off it and are sound now.

 

They go straight back on it because the detox only solves the addiction, not the cause of the addiction, like shit life, fucked up childhood, mental health issues etc.

Thats why it needs to be the full package, detox AND long term therapy, otherwise there is no point.

Personally i 100% believe that hardcore addicts lack the mental capacity to decide if they should detox and hence why they should be forceably detoxed under provisions of mental health act as the treatment is in their best interests of thier health.



Alcoholism IS more common but its not so expensive in financial/criminal terms yet the social damage is just as severe as heroin addiction.


Binge drinking is a whole other massive problem that has developed to the stage where massive numbers of people in several generations of people know no other way of enjoying alcohol except through binging!!

 

Any long term damage to them?? other than the obvious consequences criminally and socially of being an addict for years.

Do they still feel guilt of what they did as addicts etc to feed the habbit???

 

No damage mate and they have regrets but i don't think they feel guilty. I mean it was the smack controlling them, in a way.

I do know they need people around them who will help when they decide to get off it, from family and friends (those not on the gear). Not easy for most when no-one wants anything to do with them and all there "mates" are junkies.

 

lol i'v gotta get too sleep so gunna put my tail between my leg's, bow , and leave

 

And there lies the problem... no one with anything of value or something to loose, will want a junkie around them in that situation, even if the junkie is thier husband etc as the addiction is all consuming in that sense. Junkies will steal thier own mothers life savings to feed the habbit if needs be and they have access!!

I guess its the fundamental issue of trust, when in reality a junkie cannot be trusted.

 

Depends what type of junkie they are!

Did you know if a person took pure heroin morning and night they could led anormal life luke normal people it's just the shitthat it's cut with that messes people up!
And thee are alot more addicts thanyou see hanging about!

We are doing a study at work that involves heroin addicts, 75% of all addicts imprisoned die of an over dose within the first week of being released!!
We have developed a drug which reverses these effects temporarily so that paramedics can be called, therefore improving mortality rates!

Although this can be deemed as a get of jail free card, it technically is saving government funds!
Smack heads are scum but unfortunately as with anything addictive from drugs, booze, gambling or even something simple like video games, if the person has the tendancies ( which is what we are qlso looking in to) then there is very little any one can do to stop the person having these behavioural traits!

 

Then in that case they should be treated like people with severe antisocial etc personality disorders (who usually end up killing etc) and put in "hospital" to protect the public. The sheer destruction and misery smackheads cause must be not far off the misery caused when people get murdered. In fact id say its worse for the familys as a lot of smackheads appear to be the living dead.

 

Thats the impression Ive got from the ones we used to have to throw out as well, they cant see ANYTHING other than their next fix.

 

Gareth T, I agree with you by the way mate, most drug users I have encountered, I would describe as "victims" who I genuinely pity.

 

As for the comments about alchohol being a huge menace (which I agree, it is) its alot more accessible than "hard drugs"

Peoples attitudes need to change, not Laws

 

Warren hun a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing! You can't treat people like animals! I smoke but I would refuse to be locked up for addictive behaviour!!

I think you need to go and look at some facts and the medical and legal side of things before making such sweeping statements!

As for the "usually" comment that's like saying all White people are blonde hair and blue eyed, or all black people can run the the 100 metres in under 10 seconds it's all about genetic make up, for which each individualperson is different!!
Henc why I think your comments are slightly naiive and narrow minded!
Maybe read up on your addictive behaviour then say something!!

 

Junkies who commit crime should be in the justice system, its then up to their lawyer wether to try and get them a hospital place on grounds of diminished responsibility rather than a prison place.

I personally agree that a hospital is a more suitable place than a prison for such people IMHO