Safe Injection Sites

[Idaho]

Whenever legal prescribing of Heroin is tried seriously, it leads to less problems, less use, less crime, less new addicts. But politicians prefer dealers to take the blame for lots of deaths and crime, than have their own policies take responsibility for a few.

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This transcript is produced from the teletext subtitles that are generated live for Newsnight. It has been checked against the programme as broadcast, however Newsnight can accept no responsibility for any factual inaccuracies. We will be happy to correct serious errors.
Senior police officers push for doctors to prescribe heroin 10/1/02

LIZ MACKEAN:
The battle against heroin has not been a happy one. It's easily measured by a dismal statistic - when it began in the '60s, addicts numbered 500. Now there are more than 500 times that - the Home Office estimates at least 270,000. No wonder the Home Secretary is considering a change of tack.

DR ANNE READ:
(CONSULTANT PSYCHIATRIST)
Hello. Come on up.

MACKEAN:
Sarah, not her real name, has a 20-year habit which is now perfectly legal. Every day she collects her dose of heroin from the chemist and injects it at home. About 300 addicts in the country are prescribed heroin - diamorphine - and the Government might extend the scheme. It's liberated Sarah from a life of crime.

"SARAH":
Now I'm used to it. Instead of taking methadone, I'm back on that and it's great. I'm leading a lovely life. I call it a clean life, cos to me, I'm clean. I'm not running around shoplifting. I'm not in the vicious circle. I used to call it living in a triangle. I'd score, then go shoplifting or doing credit cards or whatever, then home, then score¿ I was going in like a triangle. Awful life.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/events/newsnight/1755279.stm