And certainly don’t deserve to be mollycoddled. sean thomas should know, because he was one |
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Should drug-addicted prisoners be awarded human rights damages, because they have been denied methadone treatment - and therefore forced to go 'cold turkey'?
I was once a junkie and a (remanded) prisoner. And my insight tells me there are three reasons why this is a silly idea:
1. Cold turkey isn't that bad. Many of the horror stories surrounding heroin withdrawal are just that - horror stories, invented by novelists and film directors. Cold turkey is like the flu. You snivel, you shiver, you ache, you have bad dreams. And that's it. You don't come near to death. You just feel crap. And a lot of people feel crap in prison.
2. Methadone sucks. Anyone who's done opiates for a while, and then tried to come off with methadone, is well aware that it's an awful substitute: it makes you feel dead and woozy, and offers no euphoria. What's |
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| These prison addicts are being feeble, whiney and
self-pitying: which is typical addict behaviour |
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worse, it's harder to come off than heroin. If we give this to prisoners, and they get addicted, they might have a real reason to sue.
3. A lot of people withdraw in prison: without recourse to lawyers. When I was doing chokey, I shared a cell with a middle-aged Scotsman. As soon as he arrived, he fell on his bunk and went to sleep. Then he woke up three days later, groaned, threw up, ate a jaffa cake, and went back to sleep again.
When he finally rose, he cheerily informed me that he was an appalling alcoholic and he'd just dried out. He said he sometimes got himself slung in jail just for that reason. And he took his self-inflicted punishment like a man.
The conclusion is obvious. These prison addicts are being feeble, whiney and
self-pitying: which is typical addict behaviour. Why should we pay for their sins? Let 'em shiver. 
FIRST POSTED NOVEMBER 17, 2006
 Prisoners' rights matter too
The pros and cons of the UK prison system
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