Say it with me now... WTF?!

[wildelion]

Under Britain's Department of Health guidelines, prisoners about to be released, and who had previously taken drugs but cured their addiction while incarcerated, are being purposely re-addicted by wardens, using methadone. According to researchers, the former addicts will then be less likely to overdose when they get back on the street. Reportedly

Comments

Don't laugh

[fireboy4plai]

There are actually stats that support that. The addicts (especially when it's pain pills) go out and immediately take their original dose. Which usually ends up either killing them outright or hospitalizing them. The analysis suggests that the problem is they didn't receive any sort of drug counseling in prison, they simply went off the drug. So when released they immediately go back to the drug and OD:

"There were 442 recorded deaths, of which 261 (59%) were drug-related. In the year following index release, the drug-related mortality rate was 5.2 per 1000 among men and 5.9 per 1000 among women. All-cause mortality in the first and second weeks following release for men was 37 and 26 deaths per 1000 per annum, respectively (95% of which were drug-related). There were 47 and 38 deaths per 1000 per annum, respectively, among women, all of which were drug-related, in England and Wales." - Addiction. 2008 Feb

Is it dumb as nuts? Certainly. But it does keep the nice, clean, respectable hospital beds clear of those evil and disgusting criminals on probation, peeing on the floor over at the methadone clinic where they're supposed to be.