The deputy chief constable of Nottinghamshire police has suggested that hardcore heroin addicts be provided heroin through NHS to prevent them committing crime to feed their habit.
Howard Roberts, the deputy chief constable is also the deputy head of the Association of Chief Police Officers drug group. He is also one of UK's top drug-crime experts. He quotes statistics to back his suggestion.
A single heroin addict in a single year commits crime amounting to ₤45,000 almost always to feed his addiction. If the government were to provide these addicts supervised heroin injections it would cost the government ₤15,000 for an addiction per annum. However, he stated that the long term goal was to get them off the drugs and rehabilitation.
Roberts referred to such a method being adopted in Switzerland and Netherlands. The study found reduced use of illegal drugs among those who were prescribed heroin. Both the countries also reported reduction in crime committed by addicts as a result of that program. In fact in Switzerland most patients showed no criminal inclinations while undergoing treatment.
The idea has been supported by some drug research charities, one of which will oversea the program in its implementation in UK. They agree with the stance that providing injectable pharmaceutical heroin in supervised clinics could be a last ditch effort to cure hard core heroin addicts. They believe that this method has long term health benefits for the drug user while bringing cost benefits in lowering drug related crime and other related community issues.
The most common treatment right now is the prescription of methadone which is a synthetic version of heroin. But a report by a drug misuse department of a university has claimed that hardly four percent of drug users were able to beat the habit with methadone.
Statistics reveal that about 40,000 Briton are regular users of heroin either injecting it or smoking it. The street price of the drug ranges between ₤30 and ₤100 for a gram. Some addicts are known to spend as much as ₤15,000 a year for their habit.
However, there are people who are skeptical of the method of prescribing heroin to addicts. They suggest that it should be taken up with caution as the step seems to be like rewarding them for their criminality. Some even warn that these could increase the levels of addiction.
