Afghanistan and Heroin

[OP8S]

Sorry Derik, I should have studied the links that you gave better. If you check out the dates the information supplied is from 2003. Certainly on the bbc link, there has been at least 20 odd harvests since then so I don't imagine that the figures quoted have much bearing on more recent harvests. If you want a more up to date picture then you should try to find time to read the book I mentioned in my last post.

Also,

 

Most deaths in Shetland due to overdoses have been from prescribed drugs of known strength, having a supply of "clean drugs" didn't do those mugs much good did it.

 

But to think it is OK to dole out heroin is f****ing crazy.

 

I have studied this problem for many years too due to friends getting seriously f***ed up and in some cases dying.

The differance is I am not willing to blaim everything and everybody except the damn fool taking the monkey.

Have you studied this ? If so could you provide us with the statistics ? As far as I am aware most deaths due to drug use have been from heroin overdose, which is not prescribed for addiction ( in Shetland anyway ) so I am at a loss to how you have come to this conclusion. I can think of one occassion when somebody who had bought methadone on the black market & mixed it with alcohol died, but the person in question was not prescribed the drug himself. I also had a friend who bought some paracetamol from one chemists, stopped off at the wine shop for a bottle of gin, walked along the street & bought himself another packet of paracetamol. Went home & consumed the lot, luckily I stopped along him & phoned 999. Otherwise he would have been no more. I think if you study the figures for overdoses that you will find that paracetamol is involved in the majority of cases in the U.K. , with alcohol coming a close second.

My friend was obviously in a bad way due to his alcoholism & did try to take his own life but the majority of folk do not want to die. If diamorphine was regulated & dispensed in a responsible manner by health proffessionals then users would know what strength it was & accidental overdoses would decline. Just because somebody chooses to use a substance that can cause death doesn't mean that they want to die. I quite like the odd gin & tonic, I'm aware if I was to drink enough of it then I would pop me cloggs though. If it wasn't regulated & didn't have the alcohol content on the bottle then it would be very possible for people to accidentally overdose on alcohol. That's why it is regulated by the Government.