Historique
Article de Périodique
The UK's treatment war on drugs: a lesson in unintended consequences and perverse outcomes (2011)
Auteur(s) :
GYNGELL, K.
Année
2011
Page(s) :
9 p.
Langue(s) :
Anglais
Refs biblio. :
71
Domaine :
Drogues illicites / Illicit drugs
Discipline :
SAN (Santé publique / Public health)
Thésaurus géographique
ROYAUME-UNI
Thésaurus mots-clés
TRAITEMENT
;
POLITIQUE
;
PRODUIT ILLICITE
;
COUT
;
REDUCTION DES RISQUES ET DES DOMMAGES
;
SANTE PUBLIQUE
;
METHADONE
;
LUTTE
Résumé :
From 1998 to 2011 the bulk (some two-thirds) of the UK's drug policy budget was spent on treatment compared with just one third on enforcement and prevention combined. The Labour Government's drug policy priority was to get as many 'problem drug users' (heroin and crack cocaine addicts) into treatment as possible to reduce drug-related crime and other harms associated with their drug use. This was the treatment 'war' on drugs they decided to fight. The assumption was that heroin and crack cocaine alone were problematic and disproportionately damaging in terms of health and crime costs.
Prescribing methadone as a medical substitute would, by retaining these 'high harm causing users' in treatment, eliminate their need to finance drug use through crime, prevent overdose and blood-borne virus transmission, and improve health - the key harms associated with their drug use. But 'universal' access to such treatment has not proved the hoped for panacea or realized its harm reduction objectives. Reductions in drugs-related re-offending have been partial and not sustained. Blood-borne infections have risen sharply; drugs-related mortality is up rather than down with methadone deaths on a fast upward trend. Yet its price is long term dual dependency leaving addicts in the UK on scripts indefinitely with no recovery in sight.
Prescribing methadone as a medical substitute would, by retaining these 'high harm causing users' in treatment, eliminate their need to finance drug use through crime, prevent overdose and blood-borne virus transmission, and improve health - the key harms associated with their drug use. But 'universal' access to such treatment has not proved the hoped for panacea or realized its harm reduction objectives. Reductions in drugs-related re-offending have been partial and not sustained. Blood-borne infections have risen sharply; drugs-related mortality is up rather than down with methadone deaths on a fast upward trend. Yet its price is long term dual dependency leaving addicts in the UK on scripts indefinitely with no recovery in sight.
Affiliation :
Centre for Policy Studies, London, United Kingdom / Royaume-Uni