Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. 20:01 - Dec 18 with 4803 views | Highjack | Scotland’s drug death rate is now the highest in Europe and double what it was only six years ago. Three and a half times higher than the rest of the U.K. The health minister has lost his job and been replaced by a dedicated drugs minister. Nicola Sturgeon to her credit has abandoned her usual tactic of blaming everything on the English and taken full responsibility and humbly accepted that her and her governments record is “indefensible” on this issue. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-55368574 Why do you think Scotland has such a problem? What is the solution? | ![](/images/avatars/8982.gif) |
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Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 20:29 - Dec 18 with 3534 views | Highjack | As an aside it seems a lot of countries with the higher death rates apart from Scotland are the Scandinavian countries. Could it be related to the colder weather meaning more people die from hypothermia? | ![](/images/avatars/8982.gif) |
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Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 20:30 - Dec 18 with 3532 views | Dr_Winston | It's probably just f*cking miserable living at a latitude where winter means 16 hours of darkness every day. | ![](/images/avatars/8802.gif) |
| Pain or damage don't end the world. Or despair, or f*cking beatings. The world ends when you're dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man... and give some back. |
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Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 20:31 - Dec 18 with 3531 views | britferry | its not too good here either. Every other person you pass in town who is smoking, are smoking dope | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) |
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Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 20:34 - Dec 18 with 3527 views | FieryJack | It seems indisputable that high rates of multi-generational unemployment, poverty and deprivation, lack of opportunity, violent, dysfunctional families and communities, especially in the Central Belt, would lead to drug/alcohol abuse. It's probably a lot more complicated than that, but it's got to be a significant factor. | ![](/images/avatars/9285.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 20:40 - Dec 18 with 3515 views | Highjack |
Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 20:34 - Dec 18 by FieryJack | It seems indisputable that high rates of multi-generational unemployment, poverty and deprivation, lack of opportunity, violent, dysfunctional families and communities, especially in the Central Belt, would lead to drug/alcohol abuse. It's probably a lot more complicated than that, but it's got to be a significant factor. |
I lived up there for a bit when I was younger. I had this date with a girl in Kilmarnock, I popped into a place called Cumnock beforehand for a haircut and the barber was swigging buckfast tonic wine from a brown paper bag as he was cutting my hair. He had this little 12 year old assistant who he sent across to the newsagents to get a bottle for me and for some reason we ended up singing paper roses by Marie osmond. Needless to say the date didn’t go too well. | ![](/images/avatars/8982.gif) |
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Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 20:44 - Dec 18 with 3508 views | britferry |
Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 20:40 - Dec 18 by Highjack | I lived up there for a bit when I was younger. I had this date with a girl in Kilmarnock, I popped into a place called Cumnock beforehand for a haircut and the barber was swigging buckfast tonic wine from a brown paper bag as he was cutting my hair. He had this little 12 year old assistant who he sent across to the newsagents to get a bottle for me and for some reason we ended up singing paper roses by Marie osmond. Needless to say the date didn’t go too well. |
should have dated a scouser with long hair then | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) |
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Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 20:45 - Dec 18 with 3502 views | Catullus |
Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 20:34 - Dec 18 by FieryJack | It seems indisputable that high rates of multi-generational unemployment, poverty and deprivation, lack of opportunity, violent, dysfunctional families and communities, especially in the Central Belt, would lead to drug/alcohol abuse. It's probably a lot more complicated than that, but it's got to be a significant factor. |
Some of it will simply be people who enjoyed taking softer drugs migrating up the scale until they are full blown addicts but most of it, I think, is probably what you said. Some of it will be kids drawn in by devious dealers giving away free samples and hooking them young, that's been a county lines tactic apparently. Give drugs away, then start selling, get the kids into debt then blackmail or threaten them into dealing or running or just being a decoy carrier. These county lines gangs are dirty, dirty people. I expect drug dealers are much the same everywhere. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) |
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Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 21:01 - Dec 18 with 3493 views | Lohengrin |
Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 20:34 - Dec 18 by FieryJack | It seems indisputable that high rates of multi-generational unemployment, poverty and deprivation, lack of opportunity, violent, dysfunctional families and communities, especially in the Central Belt, would lead to drug/alcohol abuse. It's probably a lot more complicated than that, but it's got to be a significant factor. |
You can draw a pretty direct line in many instances between contemporary ills and the collapse of traditional industries. Communities were shorn of their focal point and the support networks that radiated outward from and were nurtured by ‘The Works:’ rugby teams, football teams, social clubs, Darby and Joan outings for the pensioners, Christmas parties for the kids and the umpteen other things that collectively served to forge the warmth of belonging. The tribulations you highlight are the malevolent by-product of a process of atomisation deliberately wrought. | ![](/images/avatars/8709.gif) |
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Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 21:08 - Dec 18 with 3488 views | Dr_Winston | Drugs need to be legal, pure and easily available for those who need them. Treatment for addiction also needs to be freely available, and the punishments for those refusing treatment harsh. Those who choose to sell them illegally need to be publically strung up and their corpses left on display as a deterrent. At the moment the rewards of dealing far, far outweigh the consequences. Given that, it's no real surprise that the entrepreneurial spirit is strong in some. [Post edited 18 Dec 2020 21:09]
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| Pain or damage don't end the world. Or despair, or f*cking beatings. The world ends when you're dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man... and give some back. |
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Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 21:27 - Dec 18 with 3465 views | FieryJack |
Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 21:01 - Dec 18 by Lohengrin | You can draw a pretty direct line in many instances between contemporary ills and the collapse of traditional industries. Communities were shorn of their focal point and the support networks that radiated outward from and were nurtured by ‘The Works:’ rugby teams, football teams, social clubs, Darby and Joan outings for the pensioners, Christmas parties for the kids and the umpteen other things that collectively served to forge the warmth of belonging. The tribulations you highlight are the malevolent by-product of a process of atomisation deliberately wrought. |
Agree with all of that, Loh. | ![](/images/avatars/9285.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 21:53 - Dec 18 with 3447 views | Flashberryjack | I wonder if implementation of a minimum price of 50 pence per unit of alcohol on 1 May 2018 has had any effect on the increase in drug taking. | ![](/images/avatars/8685.gif) |
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Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 21:59 - Dec 18 with 3443 views | Dr_Winston |
Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 21:53 - Dec 18 by Flashberryjack | I wonder if implementation of a minimum price of 50 pence per unit of alcohol on 1 May 2018 has had any effect on the increase in drug taking. |
Minimum unit pricing has had a negligible effect in Scotland | ![](/images/avatars/8802.gif) |
| Pain or damage don't end the world. Or despair, or f*cking beatings. The world ends when you're dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man... and give some back. |
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Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 08:39 - Dec 19 with 3369 views | Andy1300 |
Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 20:44 - Dec 18 by britferry | should have dated a scouser with long hair then |
Very good | ![](/images/avatars/8746.gif) |
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Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 08:56 - Dec 19 with 3359 views | Catullus |
Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 21:01 - Dec 18 by Lohengrin | You can draw a pretty direct line in many instances between contemporary ills and the collapse of traditional industries. Communities were shorn of their focal point and the support networks that radiated outward from and were nurtured by ‘The Works:’ rugby teams, football teams, social clubs, Darby and Joan outings for the pensioners, Christmas parties for the kids and the umpteen other things that collectively served to forge the warmth of belonging. The tribulations you highlight are the malevolent by-product of a process of atomisation deliberately wrought. |
And the destruction of the social fabric continues too. I long ago realised the modern world, though litterd with many good things also held a lot of things I could easily do without, social media to start with. I long for a simpler life and I have mostly managed to achieve that simplicity where one of the joys is a walk in the park with my dog, sitting in the garden reading or sorting out the world with the neighbours over a cold beer. I could do without all the passwords and pin numbers, the multitude of scams and the preponderance of scumbags. Show me the way to Xanadu. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) |
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Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 10:15 - Dec 19 with 3350 views | onehunglow | Not really sure we should stigmatise whole areas . Talking about darkness,it is strange Scandinavian countries score highly in the world happiness stakes 16 hours of darkness or not. Plenty of misery in warm ,sunny and light countries . Drugs.Dont do them EVER. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) |
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Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 10:51 - Dec 19 with 3341 views | KeithHaynes |
Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 21:08 - Dec 18 by Dr_Winston | Drugs need to be legal, pure and easily available for those who need them. Treatment for addiction also needs to be freely available, and the punishments for those refusing treatment harsh. Those who choose to sell them illegally need to be publically strung up and their corpses left on display as a deterrent. At the moment the rewards of dealing far, far outweigh the consequences. Given that, it's no real surprise that the entrepreneurial spirit is strong in some. [Post edited 18 Dec 2020 21:09]
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Drugs would be totally legal if govts could find a way of controlling supply and a way of taxing their sale. | ![](/images/avatars/27565.gif) |
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Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 13:28 - Dec 19 with 3305 views | Badlands | I think you will find, if you were to be impartial, Sturgeon only blames Westminster (not England) for the areas Westminster has control or significant influence. All the more reason for England to permit Scotland to regain sovereignty and leave the UK. | ![](/images/avatars/23858.gif) |
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Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 09:47 - Dec 20 with 3219 views | Kilkennyjack |
Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 13:28 - Dec 19 by Badlands | I think you will find, if you were to be impartial, Sturgeon only blames Westminster (not England) for the areas Westminster has control or significant influence. All the more reason for England to permit Scotland to regain sovereignty and leave the UK. |
Its not for England to give permission really. Scotland is not in jail. The people of Scotland are sovereign. The UN Charter says all nations can decide their own futures. Johnson can get to feck. I agree with Loh, but the real question is who allowed it to happen, and why ? [Post edited 20 Dec 2020 9:48]
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Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 10:54 - Dec 20 with 3198 views | Dr_Winston |
Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 10:51 - Dec 19 by KeithHaynes | Drugs would be totally legal if govts could find a way of controlling supply and a way of taxing their sale. |
They wouldn't even really need to control the supply. Just treat it like alcohol. | ![](/images/avatars/8802.gif) |
| Pain or damage don't end the world. Or despair, or f*cking beatings. The world ends when you're dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man... and give some back. |
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Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 11:18 - Dec 20 with 3185 views | onehunglow | We should not decriminalise drugs including Class B just becasue we cant police it.Might as well decriminalise Burglary as detection rates are unbelievable;Bad that it. We do not know what is best.We have different opinions. Personally, I believe we should create a climate where people see any controlled drug as a curse and not something to partake in. I never ever met anyone who enjoyed being a heroine addict especially females using their bodies to feed a habit that will eventually,in some way,kill them. Nobody needs controlled drugs to be happy. In my lifetime,most of my musical heroes have died because of them yet they till do it and somehow glory in the excess. I fookn detest them with a passion I cannot describe. If there is no market,there will be no sale. Somehow ,we have to destroy the idea that taking drugs-even weeked coke/weed is in any way cool. I often read on these sites about scousers popping down to south Wales flooding the streets with dope. Why? Because there is a market,a need for them and they suplly that need.Take it away and flogging drugs becomes uneconomic. I can't bring myself to discuss sentencing as I get cross. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) |
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Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 11:20 - Dec 20 with 3183 views | Highjack | We have enough drug addled wasters as it is. | ![](/images/avatars/8982.gif) |
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Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 11:28 - Dec 20 with 3176 views | Neath_Jack |
Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 11:18 - Dec 20 by onehunglow | We should not decriminalise drugs including Class B just becasue we cant police it.Might as well decriminalise Burglary as detection rates are unbelievable;Bad that it. We do not know what is best.We have different opinions. Personally, I believe we should create a climate where people see any controlled drug as a curse and not something to partake in. I never ever met anyone who enjoyed being a heroine addict especially females using their bodies to feed a habit that will eventually,in some way,kill them. Nobody needs controlled drugs to be happy. In my lifetime,most of my musical heroes have died because of them yet they till do it and somehow glory in the excess. I fookn detest them with a passion I cannot describe. If there is no market,there will be no sale. Somehow ,we have to destroy the idea that taking drugs-even weeked coke/weed is in any way cool. I often read on these sites about scousers popping down to south Wales flooding the streets with dope. Why? Because there is a market,a need for them and they suplly that need.Take it away and flogging drugs becomes uneconomic. I can't bring myself to discuss sentencing as I get cross. |
You're happy to bump your gums about drugs being bad, but then post a thread about alcohol recommendations. Are alcoholics more acceptable than drug addicts? Nobody needs alcohol to be happy either, as per drugs. Pretty much everything you wrote is applicable to drugs as well. The one obvious being one is legal and one isn't, doesn't hold no sway for me though. This country is obsessed by alcohol, despite all the pain and misery it causes. Legalise drugs ASAP. | ![](/images/avatars/9278.gif) |
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Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 11:38 - Dec 20 with 3170 views | onehunglow |
Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 11:28 - Dec 20 by Neath_Jack | You're happy to bump your gums about drugs being bad, but then post a thread about alcohol recommendations. Are alcoholics more acceptable than drug addicts? Nobody needs alcohol to be happy either, as per drugs. Pretty much everything you wrote is applicable to drugs as well. The one obvious being one is legal and one isn't, doesn't hold no sway for me though. This country is obsessed by alcohol, despite all the pain and misery it causes. Legalise drugs ASAP. |
That is a fair riposte . It is ,however irelevant as drugs are illegal and hence the supply is embroiled in danger. I do not agree and I wish you no disrespect. If we were legalise drugs,the problems would not go away IMO. The issue is,as I have stated.People should not take drugs or alcohol,come to that, as there are dangers in both. It begs the question as to how we can enjoy our lives. Many eshew drugs and alcohol and they are so much better off than those who do. If you do not agree,then that is fine by me. We've been at this for what,10 yrs+?.Tempus fugit | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) |
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Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 12:06 - Dec 20 with 3164 views | Neath_Jack |
Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 11:38 - Dec 20 by onehunglow | That is a fair riposte . It is ,however irelevant as drugs are illegal and hence the supply is embroiled in danger. I do not agree and I wish you no disrespect. If we were legalise drugs,the problems would not go away IMO. The issue is,as I have stated.People should not take drugs or alcohol,come to that, as there are dangers in both. It begs the question as to how we can enjoy our lives. Many eshew drugs and alcohol and they are so much better off than those who do. If you do not agree,then that is fine by me. We've been at this for what,10 yrs+?.Tempus fugit |
What irks me is when people are happy to sing the praises of alcohol, then in the next breath berate those that take drugs. It's one and the same for me. You have been blowing your top lately about people playing hell about the pubs being closed due to covid, and how obsessed the UK seems to be with alcohol. I totally agree with you that it is pitiful. If one is legal, the other should be too. Time marches on. | ![](/images/avatars/9278.gif) |
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Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 12:14 - Dec 20 with 3162 views | onehunglow |
Scotland and her spiralling drug problem. on 12:06 - Dec 20 by Neath_Jack | What irks me is when people are happy to sing the praises of alcohol, then in the next breath berate those that take drugs. It's one and the same for me. You have been blowing your top lately about people playing hell about the pubs being closed due to covid, and how obsessed the UK seems to be with alcohol. I totally agree with you that it is pitiful. If one is legal, the other should be too. Time marches on. |
I get your argument but dont agree.It s a personal thing really . Frankly,I feel it is easier to imbibe alcohol moderately than to drop dope. It's hard to use heroine moderately. As for blowing my top?-trust me,many other things do that to me but I try to stay calmer than I used to with age creeping up on me. I try not to post personally and that is why this site is good as it encourages exchange without rancour . Anyway, I was out at 8am getting soaked for a Charity Walk and only now drying out. Thing are looking up.Wales appeared through the mist and looked glorious | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) |
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