It isn't working, is it?

27.08.18: 'Town had a drug death rate of 12.7 per 100,000 people between 2015-17 in comparison with 6.4 nationally and 4.8 in London.'

31.08.18: 'Weymouth's lost out on £620,000 worth of funding to help people with drug and alcohol problems.’

Our residents, have drink, and drug issues. This is fact.

A situation which cannot be resolved overnight, fleetingly alleviated by sending them to prison for a few weeks when they robbed to feed their painful addiction.

But they are released, without rehabilitation, or housing.

Focussing on drugs, criminalising our residents fills prisons; 1 in 5 addicts are first introduced to Heroin in prison.

We must divert our residents away from prison; Police should spend time; resources; addressing the causes. Criminal Behaviour Orders; Drug Rehabilitation Orders are a start but too regularly end in prison.

I work in this 'industry' and it is an industry.

Not one of our residents chose this life riding a merry-go-round where only dealers get a Candy Floss. What can we do to make Weymouth cleaner, safer without spending large amounts of tax payers’ money?

Change the criminal strategy to a health strategy.

Heroin Administered Treatment Centres (HAT) and Drug Consumption Rooms (DCRs) both reduce stray needles; HIV; Hep C; other medical problems and crime.

Saving the NHS; A&E; ambulance; Police; and you, money.

DCRs have operated across the world for 30 years.

Millions of drug consumptions have been supervised; no deaths. DCRs do not encourage drug taking, they provide a cost effective method of increasing engagement in treatment and recovery systems.

Bringing HAT costs in line with Methadone provision, we could help the hardest to reach.

This cuts out the middle man (dealer) and national organised crime supplying drugs.

Our vulnerable and entrenched residents are easy prey; the dealers make money from misery and bring crime to our streets.

Addiction is a health problem not a crime. If we can we prevent criminal records, we can restore hope. Being an addict is not an 'on' or 'off' switch. If you were maltreated as a child and excluded as an adult, it's hard to come in from the cold.

We must take a step back. Review our strategy; the current one isn’t working, is it?

JULIET GILBERT-ROLFE

via mail