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  • EADD Moderators: Shambles

Life Suspended - the madness of UK Drug Treatment

To the OP your 1st post is one of the best I've ever read on the disgraceful state of UK drug treatment options. Excellently thought out and well reasoned. There are good people and doctors in many CDT's but their hands are tied in most cases.

I recently asked my key worker if she knew anyone on a diamorphine script and i said surely this would satisfy all their cravings, needs etc..(unlike bupe/meth) but she said "they were still scoring on top of their diamorphine script", this must be bollocks, what reason could/would someone do this ?
 
They were either sociopaths or underprescribed. Unless your key is talking about specific individuals she knows, I'd guess she's referring to a small trial conducted in, I think, Chelsea some years ago. The maximum dose was 200mg and most subjects were on 120mg. These were of course people who'd been using, and on top of methadone scripts, for years.

Among numerous details designed to make it tough, any protest or supplementing resulted in being kicked off the course. So those on it lied and were caught out. Those opposed to diamorphine prescribing jumped to their usual wrong conclusions about the natures of addicts and addiction. Of all the evidence, this one twisted example is often quoted by abstentionists. Possibly, your key's been spoonfed her info by the vested interests who employ her. Mine avowed I was ''on an enormous dose'' when I receive two-thirds of the European average. Facts mustn't get in the way of business.

RIOTT and the Swiss and Dutch trials produced extremely positive results. In a referendum, Swiss citizens voted for the programmes to continue. In the UK, the powerful abstentionist lobby argued the cost was prohibitive - as I said above, diamorphine is many times more costly in the UK than elsewhere in Europe - and have so far blocked further trials.

They say the money is better spent on getting the user 'clean'. Translated, that means on everyone except the user. Successes are conspicuously thin on the ground but bullshit pays a lot of paycheques. Find out how much cash your service provider receives and where it actually goes. It'll blow your mind.

If something is a complete lie, it doesn't take much to expose it. But addicts are either too bamboozled themselves, or too fucked to do anything about it. As one health professional said, any other group, patient or otherwise, would blow the lid off the whole charade in an instant.
 
yeah, surely it must be far cheaper to just give someone a diamorphine script, from the doctor, end of story, no need for the drugs worker, and so works out much cheaper, coz then yer just cutting out the middle man... the more i think about it after this drought the more i realise tht this is self medicatio for me.... sorry doc, but iv found a drug that keeps me normal, i dont want yer prozac or other ssris this is what suits me, i mean they will happily prescribe anti depressents and the like till the day someone dies, and not everyone who has a go does end up addicted to it just like most people who drink alcohol do not end up as alcoholics, man its a minefield... its just so expensive and unreliable maintaining a habit, but to be honest, i do not have the physical or mental energy to go on like i do withou heroin, i swear, im just too too fast without it, and then end up crashing and burning out... it keeps me kinda level, and well the methadone, yep, i wont tke too much of that because that does really make me feel numb and dead inside, but the gear, i still care when iv had a smoke, but if i double up on green i just do feel emotionless and lethargic.... ah well, i will start doing something, but i dont know what yet, coz it would ll men truth to people "well actually, you know i say i just use at weekends, i actually use daily d have had very few meaningful breaks during the curse of my addiction" it is, its the fact that people assume that you want to be rid o the terrible affliction of the addiction, and when you tell ordinary folk that thats not how you feel then oh my god, you really are a shameless person......... dya gets me?

think i may have said this before!!!
 
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Sounds as if you know yourself a fucking sight better than most people, Paps.

The potential of diamorphine to treat certain forms of anxiety and personality problems is enormous. Nobody is ever psychotic on the nod. Properly applied, the drug can help you think your way through and out the other side. Unlike methadone, which dulls mind and body. Unlike the drugs presently handed out to schizophrenics like candy. They just stop thinking altogether.

Of course, no psychiatrist with an eye on his future will ever prescribe diamorphine for the reasons you outline. Can't have you strung out. Unless it's on anti-psychotics, which are just as tough to come off but are definitely non-euphoric. That's the real cause for disapproval - drugs are not meant to be enjoyed.

Have you noticed 'high' is now used to mean agitated or disturbed? We think in language and the meaning of words is being subtly changed everywhere you look. 'Users' had better get 'clean', saying you like drugs marks you out as a dangerous dissident.

Welcome to the scared new world. We've been both conned and conditioned. The pure delight of free mind is our birthright. Thinking beyond the approved parameters should not be all but outlawed. Keep on howling, girl, you may feel you're pissing against the wind but winds change. Ultimately, reality rules and sooner or later everything comes out in the wash.
 
i'm all for diamorphine for addicts but anti psychotics are far more effective at treating schizophrenia et al than heroin so it's not really a fair comparison.
 
I don't think I'd recommend diamorphine to treat schizophrenia.

But what 'condition' would you say PP suffers? Is her belief in the efficacy of her self-medication the result of psychotic delusion or a sensible response to what she knows? I'm inclined to think some form of 'anxiety complex' is responsible for at least as many users as childhood trauma, innate criminality, addiction genes or any of the other explanations presently offered.

(reference to another thread deleted - this scurrilous oddity has been removed by mods and with it any mild interest what it was all about.)
 
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Ah I was just reading too much into this quote maybe?

Nobody is ever psychotic on the nod.
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I agree with a lot of what you say with regards to dia being good for plenty of personality problems, certainly makes me less anxious, happier and a lot more motivated. If I could get it on a script I'd certainly take it over the anti deps etc currently on the table (but as you said, shock horror it could have the horrendous side effect of enjoyment).

for the aforementioned fella i don't feel qualified to comment on condition nor suitable treatment, maybe a wee toot could do wonders.
 
Ah, now there I'm not quite sure..the thought followed an observation that those few violent psychos I've encountered seem very definitely to chill right out when they've had a hit. Have you or anyone else had a different experience?

There was once a famous Scottish convict called Larry Winters - "the most dangerous man in Scotland", as the tabloids termed him. A giant, country lad who shot an Irish bartender in London for a wrong remark, he killed two screws and terrorised countless others without ever showing the slightest remorse. A doper I knew became his particular friend in Peterhead - he woke up each morning to Larry grinning at his door and said a two year sentence felt like twenty. But, fed a bit of smack, he was a pussycat; when word got around Larry had a bit of junk, the gaol relaxed. Ended up in Barlinnie's Special Unit, where mates could bring him dope to his heart's content. Became quite a creative artist and second only to Jimmy Boyle in celebrity. After he oded - not a bad option, he was never going to get out - a movie was made about him that won festival prizes and a general release. An interesting, difficult guy. Of contextual relevance because even the meanest Scottish screw turned a blind eye to his shooting up; it kept him quiet and made their lives easier.

Heroin for dangerous Broadmoor incurables? Now there's a thought. What would the Daily Mail say?
 
Ah, the old thread is front page news again, heartwarming. If every UK addict who would benefit by a diamorphine prescription bothered to ask for one, and kept asking, maybe the 'drug problem' wouldn't be the sorry mess it is today.

Here, we stumble on in an uneasy peace. The recovery cowboys lick their wounds after the scathing verdict of the addictions specialists and presently leave us alone. They remain reluctant to return our full scripts, however, and have yet to apologise for the nightmare they put us through last year. Life's too short to bear a grudge and we hope, if doubt they learn from their mistakes. We hear of younger users in other cachement areas also cut off their meth amps. They believed it was a 'government order', accepted it and now flounder. Let's hope they get their shit together and howl foul.

At the moment, the deluded hopefuls at the dsp busy themselves with recovery gardens, pushing the gullible into detox and sending users forms to vote for their 'recovery champions' and 'most influential keys'. Expect 1% voter turnout, more fudged statistics and further waste of taxpayer money, Treatment remains quite detached from addiction realities and turns instead to the comfort of specious sentimentality.

My prediction? Present 'encouragement to abstinence' policies will fail as disastrously as every other 'dynamic solution' since 1970. User numbers and figures for those imprisoned for drug crimes will continue to increase. Until someone uses Brain One and introduces RIOTT style trials nationwide. As Swizerland and Holland have found, diamorphine prescription alone reduces user infections, offending and numbers. All else encourages only misery, crime and the absurdity of heroin chic.

Heard a few beacons of enlightenment survived in the south west, Cornishman. Are you sure there's no-one on injectable diamorphine down there? Or have they all been switched to the pills? Ironically, unless you want to lose 65% of the efficacy, the best thing to do with these is crush, filter and fix them. Are you moving westward, Brimz, or hoping to bring the sanity nearer home? Let us know how you get on.
 
As far as I know the RIOTT scheme in Brighton is still well under way and I know they're producing a plan for nationwide implementation. Whether it'll get taken up is another matter but at least they're making their voices heard.

I agree that my keyworker was a major stroke of luck in my recovery and not something that everyone gets. There were plenty of people at the rehab I attended that I could see werenot getting the help they needed and in more than one case they died shortly after leaving.

Has anyone read Theodore Dalrymple's book "Junk Medicine". Be really interested to hear of people's opinions of it.

If I can pass this year I'll be in the drug field myself and I can promise you I will not be keeping quiet on my views about the prescribing of diamorphine or the current insanity of drug laws. I see it as a crime of immense magnitude and want to do everything I can to change the tide even a little. High hopes, I know, but we have to start somewhere.

Charlie, you've got a view that we could do all do taking heed of and I respect your posts greatly. Keep em coming.

When I was in rehab I forget how much of my benefit I was receiving but I don't think it was everything, makes you think. But then in contrast to the care I was receiving fuck it, I didn't give a shit about the money, I was getting something worth far more. Still didn't result in me staying completely abstinent but I am definitely a more reflective and balanced individual for it. Lots of sadness too from seeing those I loved go straight back to the gear and as far as I know are still there. It's awful to build suh strong relationships to see them destroyed so quickly once the stay is over. Some truly great people in there, loving, sensitive and hurt with so much to give others but no idea of how to give to themselves.

The day I realised that life does not automatically sort itself out into something happy and fulfilling was a traumatic one. Just the idea that people die in pain and sadness with dreams lost and hopes dashed is too much to bear at times. Guess that's why I can often been seens as a cynical fuck.
 
amnesiaseizure said:
As far as I know the RIOTT scheme in Brighton is still well under way and I know they're producing a plan for nationwide implementation. Whether it'll get taken up is another matter but at least they're making their voices heard.

I agree that my keyworker was a major stroke of luck in my recovery and not something that everyone gets. There were plenty of people at the rehab I attended that I could see werenot getting the help they needed and in more than one case they died shortly after leaving.

Has anyone read Theodore Dalrymple's book "Junk Medicine". Be really interested to hear of people's opinions of it.

If I can pass this year I'll be in the drug field myself and I can promise you I will not be keeping quiet on my views about the prescribing of diamorphine or the current insanity of drug laws. I see it as a crime of immense magnitude and want to do everything I can to change the tide even a little. High hopes, I know, but we have to start somewhere.

Charlie, you've got a view that we could do all do taking heed of and I respect your posts greatly. Keep em coming.

When I was in rehab I forget how much of my benefit I was receiving but I don't think it was everything, makes you think. But then in contrast to the care I was receiving fuck it, I didn't give a shit about the money, I was getting something worth far more. Still didn't result in me staying completely abstinent but I am definitely a more reflective and balanced individual for it. Lots of sadness too from seeing those I loved go straight back to the gear and as far as I know are still there. It's awful to build suh strong relationships to see them destroyed so quickly once the stay is over. Some truly great people in there, loving, sensitive and hurt with so much to give others but no idea of how to give to themselves.

The day I realised that life does not automatically sort itself out into something happy and fulfilling was a traumatic one. Just the idea that people die in pain and sadness with dreams lost and hopes dashed is too much to bear at times. Guess that's why I can often been seens as a cynical fuck.
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How long you been out of Rehab dude ?
Nice post BTW
 
amnesiaseizure said:
As far as I know the RIOTT scheme in Brighton is still well under way.

Has anyone read Theodore Dalrymple's book "Junk Medicine". Be really interested to hear of people's opinions of it.

.
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Is the scheme operating in Brighton at the moment? Do you know what dosages are involved?

Curiously enough, Tony Daniels, aka the bumptious Theodore Dalrymple, was the iconoclast doctor who originally wrote my diamorphine script. Later went on to be the resident psychiatrist at Winston Green prison, where he formed his bleak opinions of addicts. There are a number of posts on the good doctor in the Alliance thread on this subject, ( Outrage in Cambridge.) His writings exercise a peculiar fascination for many users. Rather than my repeat their views, take a look for yourself and tell us what you think.

A good post, Amnesia, look forward to more.
 
Thanks Brimz and Charlie, I got out of rehab in Feb 2006.

I'm ay work at the moment but could do with the excercising of compulsion to write in here so will keep going, maybe this eve when I'm on me own and the gf's out.

The thing with Junk Medicine is I find myself agreeing with the idea that responsibility should be out onto the user as much as is possible and the idea that they are making a choice every time they score is right. The choice can be limited and confused but it is a choice. It's such a complicated issue.

I also agree that services have largely become self serving and not there to really help the user achieve their goals. Diamorphine scripting would be a way to do this as would scrapping the recovery based model that's coming in.

He seems to have lost a lot of compassion through his contact with addicts along the years but doesn't really accomodate for the limited interpersonal relationship that he would be in being the 'doc' and them the 'patient'.

I liked the book and the debate it spawned. I agree with him that withdrawal is not medically serious but this is a limited view to say the least. Medical seriousnous is onl;y part of the story - what about the psychological truma that occurs from major withdrawals or the re-emergence of past abuse? All the things that heroin was helping to supress coming up and scaring the living shit out of you. He can fuck off with his comparison of heroin wd and the flu too.

What was your experience of the old fucker Charlie?...
 
Oh, and on the RIOTT scheme....yes, it's still in operation, funding having been continued from this May when there was the chance of it being pulled. Max doses I know about are 200mg on top of oral methadone.

It was only the firdt 6 months that the study was in 'trial' mode, collecting data to be presented to others. After that it was running to simply help those involved and to give them what was clearly helping them.

Know a few of the clients and some are doing very well. Leaps and bounds above what would be possible were they still just scoring street H.
 
HahaHAHaah!!


I was just on the Wright Stuff but th ebuggers just cut me off after my bit about heroin not being poisonous to the body. Fuckers. I wanted questions. I wanted to give ANSWERS godammit!

Anyway, if felt good to get my voice out there...i wanna fo more of that.
 
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