Britain’s Drug Disgrace — Iain Duncan Smith:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-7400859/IAIN-DUNCAN-SMITH-time-break-cycle-addiction.html
Re: Britain’s Drug disgrace (28/08/19)
Dear Sir,
A vital start to tackling the problem of drugs is surely to tell the public, especially the young, exactly what drugs do to our bodies.
The official Government website FRANK was created in 2003 to provide information on the harm of drug use. Not only has it failed to do this properly, the focus was and still is on harm reduction rather than prevention.
Under ‘Physical Effects of Ecstasy’ the first paragraph reads ‘because the strength of ecstasy pills are so unpredictable, if you do decide to take ecstasy, you should start by taking half or even a quarter of a pill and then wait for the effects to kick in before taking anymore — you may find that this is enough’. Ignoring the grammatical mistakes, does this not actually amount to condoning drug use? Is this not a criminal act?
Under ‘Cannabis’ there is no mention of violence, homicides or suicides, reports of which are escalating. Mass murders include The Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh who killed 168 in 1996 and Manchester terrorist Salmon Abedi blew himself up and killed 22 in the United Kingdom on 22 May 2017. Addiction is addressed but no warning that it occurs in 1 in 6 who start as teens, and so on.
Iain Duncan-Smith says, ‘It is time to grasp this issue and we must see bold and ambitious reform, from the development of effective prevention strategies in schools ………..’.
Our Government needs first to put its own house in order if we are ever to ‘Break this Cycle of Addiction’
Mary Brett, Chair,
Cannabis Skunk Sense,