Alcohol and other drugs......
I had a telephone call from a well known National newspaper today asking if I could give any details of anyone that I knew of who had died of a heroin overdose recently - the idea was to establish some kind of a link to the price of heroin coming down.
What is it in this country? More people die of overdoses involving Methadone- prescribed or otherwise - and admitedly usually used in conjunction with other drugs than heroin. However all the total drug deaths pall into insignificance when compared to alcohol and tobacco related deaths.
If one teenager takes an ecstasy tablet and dies then its all over the media for a few days, but I have yet to see the same sensational headlines about the 100 or so alcohol related deaths each day. That might well change however as thanks to the "National Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy" and longer opening hours the numbers are rising rapidly.
It is very interesting to contrast the differences between the Alcohol and Drug Strategies however...
For Drugs: We must reduce the supply and we will lock up the suppliers for life for preying on the inocent victims.
For Alcohol: It is the consumers fault for not drinking sensibly and we will involve the suppliers in writing the strategy and do all that we can to make it easier to obtain supplies in the name of consumer choice!
Of course the Government taxes alcohol and tobacco but not drugs. Could there be a connection we wonder?
Why do the media fail to see all the inconsistencies and lack of logic in all this? Uhmm? Answers on a postcard please!
What is it in this country? More people die of overdoses involving Methadone- prescribed or otherwise - and admitedly usually used in conjunction with other drugs than heroin. However all the total drug deaths pall into insignificance when compared to alcohol and tobacco related deaths.
If one teenager takes an ecstasy tablet and dies then its all over the media for a few days, but I have yet to see the same sensational headlines about the 100 or so alcohol related deaths each day. That might well change however as thanks to the "National Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy" and longer opening hours the numbers are rising rapidly.
It is very interesting to contrast the differences between the Alcohol and Drug Strategies however...
For Drugs: We must reduce the supply and we will lock up the suppliers for life for preying on the inocent victims.
For Alcohol: It is the consumers fault for not drinking sensibly and we will involve the suppliers in writing the strategy and do all that we can to make it easier to obtain supplies in the name of consumer choice!
Of course the Government taxes alcohol and tobacco but not drugs. Could there be a connection we wonder?
Why do the media fail to see all the inconsistencies and lack of logic in all this? Uhmm? Answers on a postcard please!
posted by anaddict @ 10:59 PM
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