Jul 2009 17

Convicts Get Methadone Vending Machines, We Pay £4million16

Yesterday, I learned that the government is now using taxpayers’ money to supply methadone to prisoners in the UK.  That’s £4million of our money to get prisoners high.

This has to top the list as one of the most appalling ways to waste taxpayers’ money.

It’s such a ridiculous programme I don’t know where to begin.

First of all, we’re talking about convicted criminals.  Why should taxpayers fund a criminal’s drug habit?  I’m not an expert, but I would be willing to guess that drugs contributed to the crimes that many of these people committed in the first place.  If prisons are supposed to rehabilitate inmates and reintegrate them into society, they should be striving to do just that, not substituting a heroin addiction with its legal equivalent to sedate their inmates.

And then there’s the fact that the government couldn’t even be bothered to involve a nurse in this exchange.  The drug is being doled out via vending machine - who thought this was a good idea?  I think I see a problem here; if you hand out a hard drug in a prison, what are the chances that it will end up in the right hands?  The prisoners could either develop a very profitable black market (at the taxpayers’ expense) or just take what they like from the weaker prisoners.

This is so clearly irresponsible I can’t believe it has gone unchecked for so long.  It’s creating a dangerous situation for everybody involved and worst of all, at £4million a year, it’s wasting our money.

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  • Arnold Hinkley Smythe Botham

    Whoa – you want to check out how much the National Treatment Agency spends. I accidently worked for them for a while and, here’s fun – drug treatment DOES NOT WORK at all. You go to an agency with a bit of a problem, hang about with a few like minded souls – hey presto – you’ve got yourself a serious drug habit – simples. The report that I produced was embargoed – never to see the light of day. Hee hee, uurrghh

  • http://freedom2choose.info John H Baker (F2C)

    This is a bit rich coming from a government that wants to make cigarette machines illegal and through countless taxpayers, not to say business, onto the streets. Cigarettes may not be your cuppa tea but they are a legal product. The mind boggles at this inept government, it really does.

  • Pete Fellows

    I really don’t know where to begin on this self-righteous diatribe, but I think you plainly displayed your utter ignorance on this issue with ‘I’m no expert’.
    You certainly aren’t, Emily.

  • Nice Boy Nigel

    The only thing that is truly “ridiculous” is the nonsense regularly spouted on this website. Emily, are you particularly experienced in treating drug addiction? Is it an area you have studied in depth, perhaps?
    I suspect not.

  • Arnold Hinkley Smythe Botham

    Pete & Nigel. I really am an expert and this is just a method of pacifying prisoners. Methodone doesn’t work, neither does subutex or cbt or anything. Fake therapies by fake ‘professionals’. End the NTA and increase cold turkey options and prison places through DIP.

  • Colin

    Your forgetting the court case won by the prisoners forced to go ‘cold turkey’ that resulted in them winning compensation, do some research before blabbing.

  • Ken Partington

    I would put each drug addict in a prison cell and tell them that they will STAY THERE in cold turkey until they tell the police from whom they got their supply of drugs and it is verified. Then find and lock up those suppliers and do the same with them ad infinitum until the police get to the top supplier.

  • eileen pohl and alan broomhead

    we agree with ken partington, why dont they
    execute drug pushers as they do in the far
    east,they even give kids free drugs so they
    will get hooked on them so they are totaly
    reliant on drugs,these nasty individuals
    destroy lives and families,and should be dealt with accordingley.

  • Paula

    Makes me sick to think what I’m paying tax for. Drug low-life, in or out of prison, should be left to suffer not be treated with something similar at our expense. Might cold turkey kill them? Aw shame.
    If there was ever a reason to avoid paying taxes this one should be pretty near the top of the list. Who are the idiots? Oh yeah, taxpayers.
    I’ve always said that we need to line up and shoot the do-gooders before we can tackle crime, this is another good reason why that still stands. Without do-gooders those who were being punished for crimes would be truly punished and possibly think twice before re-offending or even offending in the first place. I hate do-gooders more than I do the low-life druggy criminals. Do-gooders are enablers. Which mindless moron do-gooder thought up this scheme?
    I don’t know anything about drug addiction but I do know that they enter into it willingly enough, that that should cost the tax payer is something I’d never agree with.

  • L Morgan

    I do not believe that someone wakes up one morning and while having a cup of tea, decides to do something that will end up with then in a prison cell for however short or long a time.
    No-one plans to be what they are. There must be compassion for the fallen as well as programes to try and get them to be ‘normal’ members of society.

  • Arnold Hinkley Smythe Botham

    As per Paula sort of – ‘do-gooders’ are a problem in that they classify drug use as substance misuse when the two things are not even slightly the same. Many people happily use drugs regularly and other than the crime of buying it or possessing it – they never rob anyone, steal from anyone, miss a days work or anything. Legalize it – tax it, put the criminals out of work and bang up people who can’t handle their use with maturity. Booze is legal yet there are only a given number of alcoholics.

  • Tony Stewart

    The underlying argument behind this appalling waste is that methodone is a heroin substitute used to wean addicts off. Unfortunately, though millions are spent in drug-rehabilitation programmes every year, only a fraction of a per cent actually kick the habit!

  • Nick

    There is a very simple and cost effective way to rid the streets of drugs and the scum that use and sell them – the death penalty like they have in Malaysia. It certainly beats wasting taxpayers money on imprisonment and medical treatment.

  • Howard Thomas

    In the words of Victor Meldrew—–I don’t believe it!!!!!!!

  • Chris Truce

    The report that it’s a vending machine is actually false. It’s a computer controlled dispensing system, which means you can have 1 nurse dispensing instead of 3 – so will actually save money fairly quickly. If you see how the current system works you’d be glad to see their spending their money on this.
    I believe inmates should be forced to come off of Methadone as fast as humanely possible and with counselling, but I do believe it is needed. You can’t compare Heroin and Alcohol. You’ve only got to meet a few heroin addicts to realise the problem is major.
    Methadone programmes do save money also in that your average Heroin addict will steal around £1000 worth of property a day to keep their addiction going. At that rate £4 of Methadone a day is I’d say good value.
    For definite the schemes are far from perfect, but I think rather than tearing them apart we should be looking at how to improve them and make them work better.

  • Gub

    wake up you blind people and look at the bigger picture.. like firstly get rid o capitalism and profit based health care. we all are brought up to trust our doctors but when they tell us now that we need an operation or treatment …do we really or are we being abused to line there pockets