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  • EADD Moderators: Pissed_and_messed | Shinji Ikari

Life Suspended - the madness of UK Drug Treatment

You've the gist, SC.

An uneasy truce now reigns after addictions specialists advised reversing policy on 11 out of 12 complainants. But it was a hell of an eyeopener for someone who'd never thought much about Treatment and assumed those in charge knew what they were doing. When they decided peops closing 70 could 'get clean' just like that I began to wonder.

Fuck me, what a nightmare of discovery. The bottom line is that Treatment is essentially a fraud and nowadays the addict is expected to help those tasked to help them. Think about it. You couldn't ask for a better example of an upside down, back to front world. £300 million a year is spent on Drug Treatment and, in all the hysteria and non-understanding nobody checks much where it's going. Mainly seems to go on job creation for the middle class and otherwise unemployable.

I let this thread die on the logic that heroin users are too apathetic to change anything. Ever heard of a junkies union or addict rights? But there are exceptions. What happened with the 'prescribe heroin' petition? Did Pink Paps get anywhere with her campaign? Did MPs show any interest beyond soothing - and politely getting rid - of a pissed-off constituent?
 
I must say if i was to be told that they were going to take away my weekly pick up all of a sudden i wouldnt be pleased at all

I hated having to go to the chemist every day and be treated like i was some kid in a cue for school dinners while everyone else came in picked up their prescriptions and left

It also was a complete pain in the arse when i was working having to try find a chemist that was near to me but open enough hours for me to get there and not leave work early

At one time i had to go to a chemist while on my lunch break everyday while working on a building site , was a bit sus when all my work mates went to the same places for lunch every day but i was vanishing for mine by my self then coming back all giddy in the afternoon , they all knew exactly what i was up to , then there was having to take appointments every single fucking week which i had to lie about on top of the vanishing for lunch

I was actually under more stress lying about the appointments and vanishing every day than when i was a user , it was a pain in the ass using at work but at least the excuse of going to the toilet for a crap was more feasible than vanishing every single lunch time and for an hour and a half every week for an appointment

I couldnt go back to doing all that shit again .. no fucking way

What annoyed me about teh appointments was that my keyworker knew my work didnt know and she used to complain that i wouldnt go by her times when i finished early on a friday and could of seen her in the afternoon, but no no my job wasnt good enough to keep cos she liked to keep friday afternoon for her fucking paper work time ... Sorry but do ur fucking paper work at teh other time u would of seen me that wouldnt make her loose her job ffs , what i was doing ended up that I DID loose my job !!
 
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Yes, the important question is how Drug Treatment helps. It's one thing helping a ''key'' stay off the dole in exchange for a script, another when all they seem to do is pressurise to come off by making your life as difficult as possible.

It all went through with little publicity and even less interest but this area of the NHS was privatised over a decade ago. Now the companies who provide drug services - the so-called 'charities' of the misleadingly named 'Voluntary Sector' receive bonuses for every user who is discharged from Treatment. So returning you to the street is actually in their interest.

There's also big money spent on these 'dynamic interventions' to push you into detox or rehab whether it's appropriate or not. If you look at the websites or brochures of the major Drug Service Providers - Addaction, Phoenix, CRI and Turning Point - you'll see touching tales, complete with pictures, of 'users' saved by the benevolence of keys and counsellors. The photos are posed by models and the stories are most likely the invention of corporate publicists. But, hey, who's checking? Tales of junkies who aren't junkies in their own words that aren't their own words. And they say drug users are dishonest.

Has anyone ever attributed their 'recovery' exclusively to these kinds of 'solutions'? How many addicts in Treatment are in the position of being told about things they know about by people who don't know what they're talking about? When I was younger, Treatment consisted of a doctor and receptionist. Exactly the same percentage came off as do these days of a drugworker for for every smackhead. It's logical, when you think about it; you get on and come off on your own. But the considerable efforts of skilled corporation men go into painting a different picture to fool the great British public. As long as the victims continue to say nothing they'll continue to get away with it.

No other patient group would put up with it for a minute. Why do drug addicts?
 
I was actually in pheonix futures glasgow for a month and most of the staff there are people that actually done the pheonix program for their own habits lol

I remember actually asking who the people were in the brochure and if they were people that worked for them and if so which pheonix house was it ?

i got a run around answer tbh

But when i was there my parents paid for me for the first month and when i got to the last week of being there the head guy actually wanted me to try persuade my dad to pay for more time there without my mum knowing cos he thought she was the one saying not to pay any more than a month ...

I actually managed to get funding which was unheard of at the time from people in my city because there was no money to fund it, but because i was there already and freinds of the family knowing people in the Rehab and drug treatment areas of our council and high up i managed to get the funding but i ended up doing a runner on my last week, i couldnt take not being able to go outside of the building well except for walks but only when they said we could .. it was too claustrophobic for me

I did however enjoy meeting alot of people
 
Really happy for you Charlie, well done.. if only there were more inspiring people out there like you, we wouldn't be in this crazy mess..

Can people please sign that petition, only hundred have signed!!!!
 
Couldn't agree more Charlie, the whole drug treatment service is shambolic and unhelpful to most. And that's coming from someone who has really been helped by Phoenix Futures in Hampshire where I spent 9 months. Changed my life. However, I was pretty lucky and the issues which arose around my key worker were the ones I needed to address at the time - I can't thank her enough.

Overall though, the move towards getting users off the drugs rather than allowing them the choice is stupid and will go nowhere. I wish there were more addict pressure groups and people willing to stand up and speak out for an individuals right to choose the drugs they take.
 
A good health service professional is worth their weight in gold. Unfortunately, Amnesia's kind of keyworker is the exception rather than the rule.

Was it the support of your key worker that cost the money? Did you actually come off and, if so, would you have managed it without the rest of what Phoenix offered?

If you read the brochure (very) small print, you'll see 'all photos posed by models' and I'll happily pay £50 to charity if the annonymised, saved ex-addicts allegedly quoted in the brochures come forward. Another lovely piece of bullshit claims that "95p of every pound you give goes directly on the service user." What the fuck does that actually mean?

I wonder, if ten or twenty years ago some enterprising scammers set up a "charity to help drug addicts" would anyone have found them out?
 
The thing that REALLY pissed me off and was glad i wasnt a part of because i was still employed while in rehab was that Pheonix had your income suport money directed to them instead and they only gave the people £20 per 2 weeks if i remember correctly , i was like WTF !!?

What a fucking joke , i asked them why they done so , their reasons were that they paid for your keep ... BULL SHIT, thats what the funding you get is paying for !!

That extra £100 cash they are stealing of the residents could of been going in to their own bank account so that when they leave they have some cash ready for when they leave !!

That pissed me off so much when i heard that !!

Just think a house holds roughly 30 people , 30 x £100 per fortnight = £1500 per week they are stealing off them people robbing bastards
 
As Phoenix House, the same bunch got a bad press for their 'tough love' rehabs in the eighties. Official reports cited 'disturbing practices' inflicted on vulnerable people during the incredibly suggestible period following a kick. Little Charlie Mansons and religious freaks churning out Stepford wives.

At the same time, a dosshouse hotel in Notting Hill was turned into a residential rehab. Addicts lived in conditions tramps turned up their noses at and the same social services that wouldn't cough up to house the homeless in such a manner paid the bills without a murmur. The owner got rich and 'staff' tripled their wages by dealing. There's no record of how many 'got clean' as a result.

Do people get what I mean when I say drug users now serve to benefit drug treatment providers? How'd you get on with your elected representative, Brimz you old thread bumper?

I'm more or less all right, Jack, once again but there are still some rather important principles involved. Drug dependency should not second class citizens or disposable lives make. On a more practical note, the wrong people seem to be trousering or wasting the loot. With £300 million a year coming in, Drug Treatment can and should do so much better than this.
 
well i really would much rather get prescribed smokable heroin than methadone, of a known quality an a ll that, it does mess with ya, thats what the public dont understand, that when yer addicted, you are, not everyone gets addicted, but thats it, i d rather be o heroin than on any of them ssris, i just couldnt see the whole world getting on it if it was prescribed or whatever, i might mention this next week at work, comparing the demon drink and nasty nicotine with the barbaric barbs and braining benzos with the harmonious heroin ha ha ha , one day charlie, i gotta get a new job , and save up for me opium den excusrion, sure they need the likes of me out in cambodia any way.. ah we'll see, best check for jobs :D
 
How'd you get on with your elected representative, Brimz you old thread bumper?
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Had an intresting chat , unfortunatley my man is more about the enviroment n the like n has little medical knowledge , which he addmitted.
He took on board my concerns about the substandard treatment in the area and has since been in contact with me.
I had other issues with my housing where he has been of great help.

Cutting to the quick i had my 1st key working sesh 4 ages t'other day and am being considered for Morphine maintenance. Not injectable , but i've left the needle behind.

So not a fruitless excersise at all.
 
charlie clean said:
As Phoenix House, the same bunch got a bad press for their 'tough love' rehabs in the eighties. Official reports cited 'disturbing practices' inflicted on vulnerable people during the incredibly suggestible period following a kick. Little Charlie Mansons and religious freaks churning out Stepford wives.

At the same time, a dosshouse hotel in Notting Hill was turned into a residential rehab. Addicts lived in conditions tramps turned up their noses at and the same social services that wouldn't cough up to house the homeless in such a manner paid the bills without a murmur. The owner got rich and 'staff' tripled their wages by dealing. There's no record of how many 'got clean' as a result.

Do people get what I mean when I say drug users now serve to benefit drug treatment providers? How'd you get on with your elected representative, Brimz you old thread bumper?

I'm more or less all right, Jack, once again but there are still some rather important principles involved. Drug dependency should not second class citizens or disposable lives make. On a more practical note, the wrong people seem to be trousering or wasting the loot. With £300 million a year coming in, Drug Treatment can and should do so much better than this.
Click to expand...


I hear that the "tough love" still goes on in the one in Sheffield , one of the guys i was in with had been there and he said it was like a prison more than a rehab

Silly things like if someone dropped a ciggarete end there would be no free time inbwtween the group meetings, they would be made to stand around this fag butt until the person that dropped owned up and if they thought that someone just owned up for the sake of getting out of it further punishments or a "C-Section" as they called them would be issued

Also heard that they made people scrub the toilet floors with tooth brushes, would make them clean the kitchen over and over even when it was already clean

Fuck i would of done a runner within a week of that kind of shit , thats not a rehab it sounds like a fucking military camp ffs
 
The Americans who commented weren't wrong. In slight variance, a slogan for our tourit board - "Britain - it ain't Singapore!"

Some of the most powerful unions in the UK have under 100,000 members. When they ask for something, government had better listen.

There are an estimated 350,000 heroin addicts. They have no organisation, no voice and no rights.

Why not?
 
so there really are that many? its the stigma, i was almost embarassed at work the other day hearing someone educating people about drugs, and talking methadone, id better step in with some statistic....... and by the way, when does yer uncle come back from pakistan ;)
 
Great news Charlie..

Iv'e had a small victory of my own!

Well, good and bad news I guess.. I relapsed after the Ibogaine (bad news)

BUT, managed to get my psych to prescribe me 360mg MST Continus a day :)

So.. Im just trying to stabilise on it while we titrate.. never fun and ill start reducing.. I have the option to go on oral naltrexlone at the end of the taper too so ill prob go for it..

I had to sign a contract saying id stop smoking white, skunk and diazepam, but it's worth it for the morphine tbh. (Way I see it, its as close as im going to get to diamorph!)

Still blogging about it, I think I need to change its name to my ongoing battle with heroin addiction and my multiple attempts at detox!

http://www.heroinjunkie.blogspot.com
 
As I remarked in another thread, the system seems designed to maximise harm. Punishment for possession of a substance is one step removed from thoughtcrime.

If people steal to fund their habits, punish them for stealing.
If people get so stoned as to neglect their duties to others, punish them for dereliction of duty.
If dealers cut their product, punish them for fraudulent descriptions; if they use toxic adulterants, punish them for attempted poisoning.

If they are doing none of these things, then why punish them at all? And it makes less than no sense to be punished more harshly for mere possession, than for any crime by means of which it may have been acquired, or punished no more harshly for selling a falsely-described, deliberately-adulterated substance than a pure one.

The present system also actively discourages users from seeking help at the very point when they need it most and when it has the best chance of being effective; i.e. just when they first suspect their use might be becoming problematic, when they haven't yet started to affect other people but they know they could.
 
^^^Well said.

After 20 odd years in blissful ignorance, I spent a year thinking about this shit. Was rather forced on me. Now, happily and for the time being at least, that's done. But the central madness remains, and will continue until somebody appreciates that giving legal heroin to heroin addicts isn't irresponsible or 'evil' but just common sense.

If there were 300,000 people in the UK, and maybe another 50,000 in the 26 counties, with an obvious solution to their common problem, they'd be pressing for it. But addicts are a law unto themselves. The best I can come up with is this: -

If you're in Treatment, find 2 or 3 peops of similar mind, preferably relatively sober and articulate. If they're committing crime, they don't want to be, and wouldn't if they didn't have to find habit money. Find your local DAAT Commissioner (google usually obliges). Contact and arrange a meet. Tell it like it is. If you can, write to your regional NTA representative and even your MP.

You'll find two main objections to heroin prescribing. First, the cost. A 100mg diamorphine amp costs over £10. But £9+ is for glass, frieze drying, quality control and packaging. Any competent pharmacist can make up doses form diamoprphine powder at under 1p a mg. Secondly, that users wouldn't come off. Anybody whose kicked both methadone and heroin can make a point on that score. Back when diamorphine was available, exactly the same percentage gave up as now do from meth or subbys. And in those days they were no rehabs, detoxs or counsellors, unbent statistics show these costly peops make little or no difference.

It's said that all politics are local and that great oaks grow from little acorns. DAAT Commissioners are in frequent touch with their colleagues all over the country and at present the only 'user voice' they hear is from NA types. If you want it, try. Caring health professionals - as opposed to the self-servers and jobsworths you too often find at your dsp - despair of anything working and are surprisingly willing to listen. It's up to you to decide if it's worth a shot. Complaining to one another or on sites like this is a bit like singing to the choir; if you don't talk to those who can change things you'll still be scoring in the morning. You can explain, too, why presure to 'get clean' doesn't work and correct other misperceived details of life as a drug user.

If there's any advice I can provide, feel free to pm me.
 
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