Martin, who is 40, but already has two chronic health conditions associated with old age, is well aware of the drug death statistics. “I heard there had been 385 so far this year. I don’t want to be 386,” he says.
He suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and angina. “The way I’m using, I probably won’t be here in two year’s time.”
He’s tried to do something about it, he says. He was in Glasgow’s Drug Crisis Centre last week, along with a dozen others. He claims all of them asked to be put on long term rehab - with the support of centre staff- and all were instead offered methadone “maintenance”. He feels written off by society. That’s because he has been.
I’ve written twice in the last week about efforts to help drug addicts in Scotland. Plans for a safer injecting centre in Glasgow are moving forward, in a bid to tackle an HIV outbreak among the city’s most chaotic drug users. And a new report from the Scottish Drugs Forum called for better treatment of older drug users, against a background of escalating death rates.
For both articles, the response on our comments page was harsh. To paraphrase, the verdict was “let them die, they’ve made their choice, services for children are the priority”.
The good news for those who agree with these sentiments is that this is more or less what we are doing. The report found Martin’s experience is far from unique. The thrust of Scottish Government policy over the last decade has been to encourage abstention. Those who can’t cope with that get limited help.
That may be changing. The perspective of people like Edinburgh GP John Budd, who believes long-term drug users need much better psychologically-informed support if they are to abstain is gaining ground. Most have experienced lifelong neglect and trauma. “They’ve made their choice” is simplistic and inhumane.
Last week I met Laura, 35, who writes for women’s aid publications about abuse - a sliver of insight there, perhaps. And 49 year old drug-user Gary, who builds computers from scratch.
These are real people and, regardless of the a strong economic case for giving them more help, I believe discarding them to their fate diminishes us all.
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