Fix rooms. Your thoughts?

[cee-dee]

What's your opinions on whether fix rooms should be established where drug users could "shoot up"?

Mine? I don't see why the rest of the population should pay for somewhere so that users of illegal substances could continue illegal practices. I think everything should be done to discourage the use of such substances not encourage it.

It's bad enough such users getting Methadone, where some of them use that as well as illegal drugs and some of them sell it without the public paying for something else for their benefit.

It's a proven fact that drug users commit crimes to further their addiction and they need no encouragement to continue what they're doing.

It would make more sense to have places to which addicts could be removed for a while..... enforced cold Turkey?

The thing is, the most destructive drug on the Planet is freely, cheaply and legally available to all for peanuts compared to the cost of illegal drugs so I guess that will be thrown in to the ring in argument?

[jd.linklater]

I don't agree with them on principle but I do see the need for such places. I think the whole point of this exercise is to do with safety and not just for the users of illegal drugs. Far better that they use drugs in a controlled environment where needles can be disposed of safely rather than left in the streets, alley ways and  parks where the public and animals can be accidentally brought into contact with them.

But there are questions that need to be asked eg are these places going to be supervised to try and ensure that users don't overdose? And if supervision is provided who is going to pay to staff these units?  I think the money needed would be better spent on trying to get users off drugs rather than allowing them to continue their habits, in my view this is tantamount to the government admitting they are turning their backs on the problem.

As you say most illegal drug use is funded through criminal activity and I can't see this helping to resolve that issue.

[littleme61_6]

I so feel the same as has been mentioned Cee-dee and Jd. 

It would be interesting to see what addicts thought about the idea of a fix room  - If they have used them already of course. Would they want to wait in a possible queue for their time to get their fix. Maybe too they might feel now they are out in the open so to speak are they being watched, followed.  

I doubt an addict in a desperate frame of mind to use as soon as purchasing their drugs would want to go to the fix room to drug use, they surely would just want to get hidden as quick as can be to use. 

The only good point I can see from the fix room is their needles will be left there, and not in as so many outdoor places once they have used'. 

[astrologica]

My thoughts on this are exactly the same as CD's. I have not an ounce of sympathy for drug addicts and I wouldn't spend a single penny on them. They know the score (no pun intended) when they take their first fix..that most drugs are addictive. If they choose to go ahead and do that, then they have to live..or die...with the consequences. Let them die...they are of no possible use to society and are a drain on resources. There was an item on BBC the other morning about drug addicted women, who are producing babies that are born addicted too,the poor little mites. It was suggested that more money should be made available to help the mothers and babies so that the mothers could get to keep their babies. That might work for a short while, but it seems to me  that that approach is sentencing those babies to a life living with a mother who is only a short step away from resuming drug taking. It would be better to take the baby away, get it well and place it with loving non addicted adoptive parents. And to prevent the addict mother producing more addict babies they should be made to get contraceptive implants. This whole subject is yet another aspect of the way that Governments have totally nannied people in this country and taken away their duty to exercise self responsibility. It's about time people were made to face up to and pay for their own lack of self responsibility. Start with the drug addicts. The more of them that die, thefewer customers the dealers will have....they may give it up.

[joe_bloggs*]

Seems like a sensible idea,apparently it has worked well in other countries and has been trialled before in the UK and also appeared to work well,it would take users off the streets along with the dangerous littering of used syringes and hopefully give them access to recovery services,maybe we could use some of the proceeds of crime to fund them? I'm sure many of us know "addicts" be it prescription,alcohol or tobacco.....

[cee-dee]

I (obviously) don't know if anyone's ever watched any of the cop programmes on TV, that is, those programmes where a cameraman goes around with cops on the job?

I just couldn't do that job, I have no patience with drunken, violent people and seeing what the cops have to contend with convinces me that I'd never have made a cop. Seeing what goes on and what the drunks (both male & female) do and how they respond would have had me reaching for the spray the moment the drunk kicks off.

Those who criticise the way our cops deal with drunks and those who just won't comply with instructions should have seen what one American cop did, he tasered a woman 7 times for non-compliance. (But he got the sack for it)

The cost of police time that goes in to dealing with drunks needs the money that's been confiscated from the proceeds of crime putting back in to paying for police time, not putting in to anything which encourages and supports those addicted to any other substances.

[al**bear]

Saves a fortune in Hospital visits and other health costs, so a good thing

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@cee-dee wrote:

and those who just won't comply with instructions  -

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Thats a major Problem right there, most American Cops think and act as if they ARE the Law - they aren't, they hate it that People now understand this and question the legality of said 'instructions/orders'

Our problem in the UK, is that too many Police Officers have been brought up on US Cop shows and try to act the same way

Constanly getting hassled by Police Officers who think they're a Federal Marshal, is just making things worse 

[fallen-archie]

I don't agree with the above, I remember when the police were respected and that they were there to protect us and to uphold the law. What they have to deal with today is totally unacceptable imo and there.response entirely predictable. I have seen much of late to convince me that civil liberties are out of control, go down to. Any A&E department on a Friday night and see the abuse being hurled at those there to help. It is inexcusable and not something to blame the police for.
The amount of money we spend protecting those who constantly offend is ridiculous, instead of knocking those whose job it is to protect us how about supporting them?

[cee-dee]

Al, the cops I've seen seem to have the patience of Job dealing with people who won't comply with simple instructions.

A simple instruction "Get out of the car Sir". Another, "Stop shouting and swearing." Another "Calm down and listen".... How many more'd you want?

What do you do with those who're drunk, fired up and ready to fight the World, Cops and all? Are the Cops at fault when faced with violent, drunken thugs who just will not stop what they're doing?

As for the Americans.... again, there's people who just will not follow a simple instruction. Is it any wonder that the cops there are very wary approaching someone who may be armed and willing to use a weapen? Like..... a bloke pulled over after driving erratically, won't get out of the vehicle, then pulls out a gun and shoots the cop? Can you argue about that when it's all caught on a dashcam?

Here, bodycams and headcams are proving just what happens during an arrest then when they get to custody, they deny everything and swear Black's Blue that something different happened.

There's a cost involved in all the time wasted on drunks and addicts and just who's paying for it? The general Public.

All the while there's people agitating for "more funding" to be put in to this, that or the other pet interest and saying "The Government should fund more resources for.........."  Don't people realise THE GOVERNMENT'S GOT NO MONEY. It's not their money. The money comes from the Public.

If the full cost of dealing with those addicted to all substances was weighed up... That is the stuff stolen, broken or damaged and the full cost of the time involved with dealing with it all was totalled and the offenders either made to pay or be made to work to pay, that money might well be spent on some of those pet interests.

[jd.linklater]

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@astrologica wrote:

This whole subject is yet another aspect of the way that Governments have totally nannied people in this country and taken away their duty to exercise self responsibility. It's about time people were made to face up to and pay for their own lack of self responsibility.

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Here's another example of the sort of behaviour astro is describing.

Since 2009 nine people have drowned in the River Avon in Bath. All were male and all but one were under the influence of drink, drugs or both. Five of them were students at Bath Uni who had spent the night clubbing in the city centre. The headline on the local news tonight said that the River Avon had just claimed it's ninth victim. Victim??? Did the river leap up grab them and drag them under? The only thing they were victims of was their own stupidity. If you're so heavily under the influence that you're that unsteady on your feet why walk beside a river?

Almost immediately the public (mostly fellow students) are petitioning the council to do more to prevent more casualties. Since 2014 over £1/2million has been spent putting up fencing and installing 14 life saving equipment stations along the most popular stretch of the river. What a scandalous waste of public resources and yet again this is all to protect a few feckless people who have absolutely no sense of personal responsibility. This makes me so angry.

http://www.bathchronicle.co.uk/finding-of-body-in-search-for-henry-burke-brings-river-avon-deaths-in...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-38128143

[evoman3957]

I'm watching yet ANOTHER cop program about the " FILTH " that is Britain today.........you want a "fix" room, I'll give you one; a permanent ******* fix room.

[astrologica]

Yep....just one of those would solve a thousand problems. Just when did Britain become so soft?

[evoman3957]

As the saying goes " all it takes for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing " and boy; have the lilly livered, gutless wonders, that seem to be all around me, turned doing NOTHING into a ******* art form !!!!

[al**bear]

That is how Police act when the cameras are there

btw

'Fix Rooms' can be financed through the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.  Use the Money taken from suppliers to fund them

as well as Fix rooms

WE need Drunk Tanks, if you get too drunk or are argumentative when drunk

Dragged off to Drunk Tank, you do not get out until you are sober and You, a friend or family member pay £50

next time £75 then £100 - make the Drunk Tank self financing, any shortfall made up by a levy on Pubs, Clubs etc they are the ones selling drunk people more drink

After third time, you get banned from Town/City centre for a year and can't visit licenced premises in the evening or Night time anywhere in the District (get caught in another area doing same and your 'Previous' carries over)

[0125arwen]

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@fallen-archie wrote:
I don't agree with the above, I remember when the police were respected and that they were there to protect us and to uphold the law. What they have to deal with today is totally unacceptable imo and there.response entirely predictable. I have seen much of late to convince me that civil liberties are out of control, go down to. Any A&E department on a Friday night and see the abuse being hurled at those there to help. It is inexcusable and not something to blame the police for.
The amount of money we spend protecting those who constantly offend is ridiculous, instead of knocking those whose job it is to protect us how about supporting them?

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This is easily the most sensible comment on here in a long time.

[soppysofty]

A NHS ambulance costs around £250.00 per call out.

An admission to A & E costs around £185.00 just to be processed and triaged.

So a person who is taken to hospital as a result of excess drinking (probably spending around £30.00 in total on thier 'night out') has cost the tax payer some £435.00 for their 'pleasure'.

If someone is sent to hospital as a result of excess drinking they should be charged for the full cost of thier 'treatment' and that should be enforced so that they are made to pay or be declared bankrupt if they cannot.

If Friday/Saturday night out is going to cost the equivelent of 2 weeks wages per night then I can see a huge change of behaviour for the better.

Now it is just a case of finding a politician with a backbone who would put such a law through the due process!

[evoman3957]

Considering most peoples misery is at the hands of some other human being, who's passed their sell by date; there's not much chance of that happening........I'm afraid !!

[right-then-petal]

[cee-dee]

Well said, my thoughts exactly.

[john.b74]

Boots the chemist have rooms for drug users.. the chemist gives them the drugs and then they leave..The worst drug in the world is alcohol and no one is doing anything about it..