The
personal and social costs of all this is not often seen or read about, because
drug users' lives and voices are discounted, just as the Lawrences' lives
and voices were discounted when they too were obscured by prejudice.
Let
us take the story of Brendan Woolhead; a 34 year old Irish Telephone Technician
injured in the IRA's Aldwych bus bomb. (Feb. '96). Wrongly branded as
a terrorist, raised police suspicion when he appeared unwilling to go
to hospital (he was anxious about admitting he had a methadone script
to pick up); slurred by the tabloid press, whom he later sued. Then, seven
months later, he entered Wellbeck Hospital for a detoxification treatment
and died. At his inquest it was found that Wellbeck Hospital had made
manifestly false claims about Mr. Woolheads treatment and that he had
died as a result of the "reckless" way he had been treated.
He leaves behind a four year old son.
A young woman as recently been awarded £250,000 in settlement from
North Middlesex Hospital NHS Trust after she had been left brian damages
from taking ecstacy. Her case was that with appropriate and standard management
when admitted to hospital, the problems flowing from the fact she had
taken ecstacy were eminently correctable. The Trust admitted breach of
duty to the extent that 'some mandatory baseline investigations were not
performed on Miss Leighton'
A
mother wrote in the guardian.. "I know….that no-one really cares
about my son. He is 20 years old and a heroin addict…. He, too, has
tried to 'get off'. He had his two weeks de-tox, his methadone script,
and after a lot of pressure, admission to a rehab unit.
He tried for three weeks to endure the continuous humiliation and confrontation
they put him through. He walked out last week. So that's it, as far as
the GP and social services are concerned."
That's
it, often means exactly that! That's it, and no more script! This is the
Sword of Damocles that staff in treatment units hold over the heads of
their clients. The power to terminate a script and the despair it can
cause recently resulted in a young woman throwing herself from the top
of a twelve storey building just days after her discharge from Chelsea
and Westminster DTC. (The matter is currently being investigated).
So,
finding a voice in a society that segregates and discriminates will indeed
be a struggle, but the determination and cohesiveness of the Lawrence's
and all those who have supported them is a positive inspiration to us
all. In denying other people's experience, we deny them. We have stifled
black voices and denied them justice. In vilifying drug users, we embark
upon the same path. We deny their experience and we don't hear about their
pain and their civil rights abuses. Our negative beliefs about them and
the language we use inflicts the subconscious, and prejudice is not merely
imparted, but is metabolised in the bloodstream of our society.
It
translates itself into systemic and institutionalized prejudice, has no
compassionate face and serves only to propound our ignorance
The iniquities exposed by the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry make depressingly
familiar reading to the drug using community. Sir William Macpherson stated
that thoughtlessness, ignorance, insensitivity and stereotyping were issues
for all public institutions.
The
teaching profession admitted to underachievement and high exclusion rates
for ethnic minority children as endemic in education as elsewhere, and
the legal profession as a whole was reluctant to accept that racism might
be an institutional problem, although none of the 98 High Court judges
come from ethnic minorities. The media, represented by Tim Gopsill (National
Union of Journalists) admitted woeful under representation of black people
in media and racist overtones in many national newspapers.
Systemic
discrimination through ignorance, prejudice and stereotyping is not just
bad practice. As we have tragically seen in the Lawrence case, it is positively
dangerous and can lead to appalling social injustice, injury and death.
In the first edition of Black Poppy (Dec '98), I claimed that 'pejorative
language, partial facts, lies, spurious research plus downright hypocrisy
are leading us ever backwards into a war strategy and a structure of prejudice
that helps to justify neglect and medical ineptitude and ignore the ever
rising health problems and death toll amongst drug users.' As recently
as 1996, the Oxford Textbook of Medicine stated that the explicit prejudice
against patients with drug related physical problems can result in unacceptable
practice. For example, it noted a case of a hospital doctor writing in
the medical notes that a severely ill young IVDU should not be resuscitated
or another example, where a young former IVDU with infective endocarditis
was not considered for valve replacement, solely on the grounds of his
history of drug problems. It went on '.....such dubious clinical practice
is frequently based on ignorance, lack of experience, and a failure to
consider the ethical implications of withholding lifesaving treatment...The
concept that such individuals have a right to treatment is not yet readily
accepted...'¹
The
consequences of devaluing drug users in this way should be a grave concern
to us all. It certainly ensures that they will continue to be excluded
from the drugs discourse where their experience and their expertise are
needed most urgently. How can any change occur if the current stereotypes
of drug users are constantly reinforced by the mass media; inculcated
throughout drugs education, the NHS, treatment centres, Social Services,
the Police, and remain totally devoid of all political will to challenge
them?
"Britain
was conspicuous by its absence from a Europe wide movement trying to emphasise
harm reduction as a way of tackling problems" writes Ian Traynor
(the Guardian 26/10/98). He goes on.. "A full page advert in the
New York Times in June declared 'We believe that the global war on drugs
is now causing more harm than drug abuse itself". Signed by a global
elite of government, political, academic and public figures, the declaration
was drafted by a small band of experts in Frankfurt who have established
a network across European cities to lobby for international coordination
on drugs policy. The European Cities on Drug Policy Network, initiated
by four women politicians from Germany, The Netherlands and Switzerland
in 1990, spans 31 cities in 10 countries. Unfortunately, no British cities
got involved.
As
the Lawrences discovered, black voices have been raised for very many
years, but have not been heard until now. As Mrs Lawrence said, perhaps
if they had been white, it would have been quicker.
In fact, it wasn't until the media got over their shock that the Lawrences
didn't stand up to the usual black stereotypes that their story became
really newsworthy. The terrible effect of pre-existing prejudice and negative
attitudes have now been spelt out by this damning report and its full
impact experienced by the Lawrence family and other families who have
lost their loved ones in similar circumstances. The Lawrences felt silenced
by their colour. We know colour is not the only thing that silences people.
How many drug users, or their families, dare to risk public ignominy to
speak about their treatment in the hands of our public and corporate institutions?
Who
will question the rising death in custody, many of whom are drug users
on remand;
the lack of medical care and respect given to drug users in NHS hospitals
and GP surgeries;
the prejudiced attitudes and disproportionate power of health workers
employed in drug treatment centres;
the general disinterest shown to IDU's with HIV/Aids and lack of thought
to any special considerations for them in treatment centres such as NHS
Drug Dependency Clinics;
the negativity of Social Services towards drug users that have children;
the limited knowledge of specific IDU related health problems and infections
demonstrated by Health Personnel in Drug Dependency Clinics, Prisons,
and special HIV Units, which often results in misdiagnosis, further illness,
or deaths;
the biased language used by media when reporting any drug related story.
