Outrage in Cambridge!

[derek d j]

I'm sure you're not to blame, Ken.

But what a shame. As OP8 says, the morale of addict nation has never been lower. Users suffer a revolution of continually falling expectations since 1970 and are now being forced out of treatment and back onto the streets. Swiss users balk at injecting in front of doctors; their UK counterparts would give anything for a place in RIOTT. My consultant assures me his private agenda, despite an unjust setback at the hands of gullible anachronisms, is ongoing. It's not fair he should have to write scripts if he doesn't like them and user concerns are of no interest. A man of his times.  

Was it Thatcher? Do they put something in the water? Nobody seems to question the automatic assumption that everyone 'on drugs' should expect constant monitoring and restrictions on their freedom of movement. If you're on 'supervised consumption', now standard practice for all newcomers, you may as well wear a yellow star every time you walk into the pharmacy. If you're 'on drugs', you're no longer an individual but an unfeeling lump of junk, an indistinguishable part of the rubbish, to be recycled or dispatched post haste to the penal dustbin. Has everyone, even the victims themselves, been conditioned not to see there's something very wrong here?

Of course, by 'on drugs', they don't mean people on warfarin or betablockers. Only certain drugs, the kinds that change consciousnesses, are targeted. You cannot reason with an opiophobe, their sense of moral superiority is unassailable.  Their quiet, often concealed fanaticism and determination to 'win' is frightening. Unlike radical Islamists, they will not martyr themselves for their cause. They don't need to. They can destroy their enemies with the stroke of a pen. True democrats all, they tell you we're all in this together and everybody's equal - unless they're on drugs. The idea any doctor should be held just as accountable for deaths such as described by OP8 as the likes of Dally and Brewer are for fatalities among their patients never even enters considerations. First and foremost, it's a matter of mindsets. Drug warriors would punish their fellow citizens, not for what they they do, but for what it's thought they may do. But who's doing the thinking?

When 'junkie-baiting' or 'baghead bashing' becomes approved practice, not among the brutal and ignorant but within Treatment itself, it is not just addicts who should feel very concerned. And if the one organisation that affords users a voice and degree of protection goes the way of all others who have dared to question an unthinking opiophobia, it's another nail in the coffin of a Treatment system that was once the envy of the civilised world. The bodies will continue to pile up, the 'drug problem' will get worse and fools will scratch their heads and say it seems we just weren't tough enough there.

Anything can happen here; it's a kind of undeclared war for empire fought, as Churchill predicted, in the battlefields of the mind. 'Drug warriors' want as badly as any Al Qaeda madman to make their belief system universal. Every user who does not feel their dependency makes them a 'junkie' or should relegate them to undercitizen status needs to speak out now. We should not merely enjoy life within the boundaries imposed on us but ask very loudly why they should be there at all. Who needs it? When something  smells, it needs to come out in the wash. But nobody seems to know how to find the laundry. Here's hoping The Alliance survives to point the way.
 

[OP8S]

Funny you should say the now common soundbite created by Cameron & his cronies "  we're all in this together ". After writing that post & feeling downhearted after reading Ken's post I switched on the TV in time for the news & surprise, surprise there he was repeating the words yet again.
No we're not all in this together, it's as plain as the nose on my face. Not only "junkie-bashing" , "bag-head bashing" being common place amongst society these days, we now see " meth-head bashing ". They might as well call it " treatment-bashing ", reluctant as I was to go back onto methadone after many previous experiences when I'd been underdosed, or didn't want to go to the pharmacy daily for the first few months. A GP finally persuaded me to give it another go, saying it was considered " The Gold Standard of Care " in drug treatment & I did on the provision that it was a maintenance script, that all the decisions regarding my care would be made by myself as long as I eventually once adequetely dosed provided them with clean u/s when asked.
I have kept my end of the bargain, I can't remember the last time I gave a opiate positive u/s. It is now treatment providers who threaten not to uphold their side of the agreement.
People do not enter treatment on a whim, they do it to escape the criminality & health risks of the continued use of illicit substance's. So that they can lead as normal a life as possible in the eyes of a terribly judgemental society, where the only substances considered acceptable are alcohol & tobacco. Both of which carry potentially life threatening consequences.
 It appears ( to me anyway ) that along with the rise of the Purple's Recovery Agenda that people in treatment are just as stigmatised as the hundreds of thousands of people who are not in treatment. We are being stigmatised for wanting to stop engaging in criminal behaviour, or self-medicating for various reasons.
What then is the motivation for those not already in treatment, to try & achieve stability in their lives, getting employed or contributing to society in other positive ways ?
 So we're not all in this together, even if you only take medication provided legally by a GP or similar Health Professional, work hard & pay your taxes then you are still looked down upon by the rest of society. Even a sizeable proportion of keys & other DSP workers consider you to be of less worth.

 I'm not aware of any other sites that provide advocacy services for people in treatment, or allow such open & frank discussion on matters of treatment & addiction. Does anybody else know of any?

Sites such as wiredin.org recieve funding from various privately run charitable (?) DSPs by means of advertisments, are they recieving any funding from the Government ? If they are then the Alliance should recieve similar funding, after all it's only by looking at both sides of the coin that any progress can be made in any situation. Or is the arguement for MMT being purposely gagged by the Government ?

Why people can't accept that others have different views to their own is quite beyond me in this day & age. I have absolutely no problems with anybody who prefers one substance over another, after all we're all different & it would be a very sad world if we weren't. I respect the views of others & by doing so expect them to do likewise. It's not much to ask in a so called civilised nation surely.

[sapphire]

I don't know if it's any use or not, but I donate a certain £ every month to a few charities. would it be possible for us (if we wanted to) to make donations of small amounts a month, or on an "as can do" basis? Would it help at all?

This is the only UK pro methadone site/advocacy facility, so we really need to do all we can to keep the Alliance alive!


Is this anything to do with all the funding being given to the purple brigade, as maintenance is not en vogue at the moment? 

[Anon33]

our user group doesnt get funding anymore....most people in user involvement are losing their paid positions....it has and will re-ignite user activism which had got a little blurred on the way in purple headlights.....so we all need to stand up and be counted....teamwork makes the dream work......even just pointing out basic rights to other users is a step in the right direction....my only fear is that there will be victimization towards people like me/us from those in the purple nut brigade

[bp]

What a kind offer Sapphire, unfortunately I'm no longer in a position to comment. Anon33, I'm very afraid that User Invollvemt is  rapidly being left behind and smothered by the  Recovery agenda. iI am not against Recovery but I am against coercion and forced abstinence. I have spoken to people of 50++ who are back on the streets committing crime and scoring after years of stability and it makes me feel so angry and powerless. Also, soft crime is becoming a thing of the past, I wouldn't nick a bar of chocolate now because the chances of getting cught are so much higher. Watch the crime figures soar and see what C.R.I. has to say.
'Crime Reduction Inititive ' ...........don't make me laugh.

B  

[Ken Stringer]

OP

so sorry to hear about the loss of a friend, that one never gets any easier, thoughts are with you and all concerned

Redundancies, reductions, re-structuring of our NHS, it all sounds very depressing indeed. The only positive word that comes to mind on that begins with the letter R is the Respect for the Alliance workers who do so voluntarily.
With Cameron & the shower of shit that parade as puppets for the people that really pull the strings in Government at present I myself don't feel too optimistic that any future funding will be granted.

I've just lost a friend in the past week who had been encouraged to reduce off his script. I hadn't seen him for a while so can't be sure what the toxicology report will find. Maybe I'm jumping to the wrong conclusion, it was substance related though. Whether it was gear, alcohol or anything else ? I'm pretty sure that he would still be with us if he was scripted.
Apart from the handfull of regular posters that post on the Alliance forum & know their rights in the world of drug treatment, I find very few others who are in treatment that do. In the last year I've told numerous people moaning about the pressure they are being put under about the Alliance, most sadly give in to the pressure applied by keys & end up back on the streets.
 Without maintenance, or reduction being in the users control with appropriate aftercare then we'll soon see addicts dropping like flies all around the UK. If this hasn't started to happen already.

What a great way to get rid of opiate addicts, what a great way to cut down on the amount of benefits to those that are not in work. A very depressing scenario indeed. I'm sure the Alliance could get by with some of the bonuses paid to the (w)bankers that got this country in the financial mess it's in, but as usual cuts are made that effect the people who can least afford it & the forum isn't exactly one where people can afford to make any real financial contribution to help fund it.

I fear that Outrage in Cambridge is going to end up as Outrage in the UK, we should all prepare for a very tough year ahead. If MAR is what you wan't take the Orange Guidlines to every DSP appointment you attend, make a noise, write letters expressing our views to every MP, MEP, heads of all DSPs, anybody you can think of. It's time to mobilise the troops good people !

Thank you Ken for giving us the lowdown, depressing as it may be.

[Ken Stringer]

Thanks Froude

Just to let you know that we are not reliant on chance, we are aiming to make our own luck!

Sorry to hear of all the negative's going on at the Alliance,same as OP,enough respect for the lads and lasses who are doing the voluntary bit,im well aware of the situation in this country with everyone thinking and hoping their jobs are safe.Lets hope there is good luck in March for the Alliance,All the best Froude

[Ken Stringer]

Thanks Sapphire, a wonderful thought.  we do have a paypal link (but it has never been set up to work).  as a charity we should be seeking donations but as far as I can see never have.  Most of those using our services are not in a position to donate so I guess that is why it has never been looked at.  I will revisit and see if there is someway we can get this working, people could then perhaps encourage others to donate rather than feel obliged to themselves, we are not about to tax anyone that needs a helping hand.

I don't know if it's any use or not, but I donate a certain £ every month to a few charities. would it be possible for us (if we wanted to) to make donations of small amounts a month, or on an "as can do" basis? Would it help at all?

This is the only UK pro methadone site/advocacy facility, so we really need to do all we can to keep the Alliance alive!


Is this anything to do with all the funding being given to the purple brigade, as maintenance is not en vogue at the moment? 

[Ken Stringer]

In case you have not seen this as I had referred to it in an earlier posting


http://cjwellings.com/ddn/DDNfeb12/#/12/

[simon]

Ken on another forum that I use they have links to things like amazon, ebay and late rooms, when you buy anything using these sites linked to that forum the site gets a donation. No idea how it works though.

[OP8S]

OP

so sorry to hear about the loss of a friend, that one never gets any easier, thoughts are with you and all concerned

Thanks Ken, haven't heard the details of the toxicology report yet though threw the addicts grapevine it sounds like after being discharged from the care of his CDT the fellow took to drinking heavily ( I know that much for sure ) & relapsed while under the influence of alcohol. Never a safe combination. Tolerance had dropped to zero & I think he went over. What saddens me is that it was a few days before anybody found him in his flat.
I'm sure it could have been avoided if he had still been scripted.
That is the result of encouraged reductions without proper aftercare IMO.


Would donations paid by the handful of regular posters be of any use ? There's rarely more than 20 ish forum users that visit the site at one time & even less regular posters. I expect that it wouldn't even pay your electricity bill. Do you know if sites based on abstinence recieve any funding from the Gov., it would seem very unfair if they were.

[Ken Stringer]

Really appreciate the thoughts, not going to be asking forum members for money though, will get back to you, Simon appreciate the thought I will look into it

[sapphire]

Great article Ken!! I would defo set up a link so people could donate if they should so desire!

OP - sorry to hear about your friend, I just had a friend buried too, OD it seems on didgy benzo's after CDT forced him too quick off a benzo script. 

[derek d j]

If the withdrawal of a prescription is a contributory factor in these deaths, shouldn't someone bring it up at the inquests? Other than the G.M.C, coroners appear the one body who may call to account otherwise autocratic consultants and whose opinions may influence them. Yet concern seems only to arise if they actually prescribed the lethal dose. A little broadening of the ideas of negligence and responsibility would appear in order.

But, as always, who's going to ask the questions? If your respective friends had died while under prescription from, say, the Stapleford, all sorts of folk would be clamouring to apportion blame. It should not be only opiophobes who may demand 'justice'. My favourite quote from 'A History of the British System', noting " a determined minority...able to exercise undue influence ", seems to apply right across the board.

Maybe Ken or whoever else remains of 'The Alliance' can do something. Somebody should.

[sapphire]

didgy benzo's, dodgy, you know what I mean!! And yes, his family are seeing a lawyer about not sueing the CDT but making it plain that that was part of the cause, lest it happen again.