HIV positive cases show rise in Scotland as Scottish Government sits paralysed with fear to do anything radical because of independence referendum

Dear All

A lot of people, some influential have recognised that the ‘war on drugs’ is a phoney unwinnable war that has produced criminal monopolies who have built empires on their ill-gotten gains.

I believe that drugs should be legalised thereby bankrupting the drugs market, cutting crime, saving lives and generating liquidity which can be used to benefit communities.

Unfortunately politicians seem pretty set on the status quo which benefits criminals.

‘Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime’ is their gimmick to get you to vote for them.

A symptom of the phoney war on drugs is that addicts are placed in greater risk from the use of illegal drugs.

To that end, a health warning has been issued after six drug users in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde area were diagnosed HIV-positive.

This type of thing is caused by addicts not having access to clean needles and reusing dirty ones among themselves.

Because of stigma and being seen as weak, no mainstream political party is willing to be bold, be radical or genuinely care for people such as these.

These people are the underclass, the kind of people that politicians profess to care about usually around election time, any other day of the week they walk by such people.

HIV positive is a living death sentence, but it could have been avoided if the Scottish Government hadn’t been paralysed by fear.

You may have noticed that right across the entire Scottish Government nothing is happening, nothing is happening because of the referendum.

And nothing will continue to happen until that referendum has taken place.

Drug legalisation is now a moral issue, sitting back and letting people die is wrong.

Someone popped into my blog to say that Alex Salmond is a ‘great man’, then perhaps it is time that he started fighting the fights that need fought.

He could make a start in the deprived areas by ensuring that more resources are put into delivery and publicity of free needles for addicts.

A national programme should and could be rolled out; education is very much ‘key’ but making contact is even more important before education makes a difference.

Although sterile equipment and needles are available, it is enough to let addicts come to the health professionals, the health professionals need to be more in the community.

Preventative spend is the current buzzword in health, this fits neatly into that ethos.

Public health consultant Eleanor Anderson said:

“It is important for injecting drug users to engage with the wide range of services we offer designed to help them tackle their addictions. However for those who continue to inject, we remind them to take all the safety precautions necessary to protect themselves and others.”

By making drugs illegal we have created in part a shadow secret section of the population out with the norms of society.

We won’t save all of these people, but we should be trying to save as many people as possible.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University