Spice

Yesterday (2.30pm-ish) driving through the road beteeen the Gala and the train station there was a bloke laid on the floor, my initial thought was he’d been on somet, we pulled over to see if he was ok, absolutely smashed was this kid, I told him I’d ring him a ambulance and he tried to get up, I rang the emergency services and asked for a ambulance, when the lady come on the phone the bloke had managed to stand up but was literally all over the pavement, she asked if he was breathing and I said ‘look luv just leave it, he’s on his feet’

We jumped back in the car and as we did 2 other **** houses walked down holding him up, literally 30 yd further down the road there was another kid who looked just as bad!!

What the **** is happening to our town and other towns & cities?

This epidemic is majorly serious and the authorities have no control, I don’t think there’s an answer to it tbh!!

Would you bring back national service and try to stamp this kind of behaviour out of young men at an early age???

I’m only young-ish myself but the stories and tales I read and hear we’re far greater than what I hear and see these days, young boys been turned into men who had good values about life.

Sad times really

 

It's a plague! Spice is readily available anyway, getting more popular easily available than cannabis. Until we have a zero tolerance on non prescribed drugs things will only get worse. Having worked with children youngest of 14 on the drug it is not nice to see.

 

No I wouldn't bring back national service. Our armed forces are there to defend us not sort out society's ills. I was born in the 50s and so never had to do national service and have never got myself in a state like that so I'm not sure why you think the lack of national service and drug abuse should be correlated.

 

Was that murder last week near the outpost spice related?

 

It definitely is concerning and i'm not sure what the solution is to be honest. I don't think national service is the solution personally. We need to look more into why they are resorting to this and what can be done to stop it.

I lived in Perth (Australia) about 10 years ago for a year and they had a major problem with Ice (crystal meth). You'd be on a night out and there'd be tonnes of people going nuts off their tits and being extremely aggressive.

The drugs might be different but it is a problem in working class communities throughout the world.

I'm a mental health nurse and the amount of people I used to see who had developed schizophrenia as a result of heavy weed smoking was ridiculous too. Im not sure if weed causes psychosis directly, im more of the belief it unlocks something in those already predisposed to it personally, but all i can see in the near future with spice particularly is a huge demand on MH resources.

 

Interesting report about north/south divide has just been published - it has grown considerably over the last few years in terms of poverty, drug use, unemployment and suicide. Report strongly pinpoints the 80's with the economic decline of the North as a major cause.

 

We've had a zero tolerance view to drugs in the past but all it does im afraid is criminalise users and give them zero incentive to get out of whatever rut they are in, as job prospects obviously reduce dramatically.

It's a very difficult situation and I'm not sure what the answer is really. I know other countries have tried legalising all drugs but unsure as to how successful it's been. It still wouldn't sort the spice issue out as it's nothing to do with purity etc... it's just not meant to be consumed full stop!

 

My point is, would something like NS give young men a sense of achievement, belief and value?? Whatever the government has been implementing for the past 20 years has from what I can see had zero affect, our prisions are over crowded, burglaries seem to be on the increase again and our services are stretched the max.

What would you do and why if you don’t mind me asking?

 

I'm for national service. Not just for drug related crime, but also to take the slack of youth unemployment.

I don't think all school leavers should go into service, for example, if a young person is off to uni or has a job/apprenticeship they wouldn't need to join up.

Some young people need guidance, but have no role models. We have generations of families that have never worked and that cycle needs breaking.

Also, the thought of having to do a spell in the army might spur our school kids to knuckle down in class.

 

The authorities do have control to some degree, by authorities I include Central Govt. Give them a more positive outlook on their futures with real jobs with proper wages. All this wastage we see all over the country, but particular in former industrial areas, is simply collateral damage in the eyes of many political ideologists and politicians. When you take hope away and then cut the support structures that they can turn to in their hour of need, then the scenario you’ve just described is inevitable. Having said that, I acknowledge that there are people who simply do not want to be helped, but they are very much I the minority. I would not bring National Service back, it’s not the answer. If you want people to feel good about their country then the country must show it cares about them.

 

If the government hadn't persisted in its ludicrous policy of prohibiting relatively low harm recreational drugs such as weed, ecstasy and the like, horrible things like spice, miaow miaow and other legal highs would never, ever have made an appearance.

 

Regarding "Spice" I read in last weeks Chronicle that the emergency services were called out 7 times in one day to tend to the same person.Where do we draw a line on help or conviction?

 

I’d have a guess that over 50% of low life’s (I don’t mean that in a flippant way) have come from families which have poor outlooks on life, probably don’t work and have little respect for others in the community, this is a chain which seems normal to them as this is all they’ve known and seen, how do you show someone who has this imbedded into them that the county cares when there outlook is poles apart from others?

 

NS would cost an absolute fortune initially, providing instructors, accommodation, food, etc, but this could be offset by savings in the distant future, just can't see that sort of forward planning from any government. Then there are civil liberties to consider.

 

It's the lack of decent jobs, a process started in the 80s when it was government policy to systematically wind down the coal and steel industries thus depriving young people of apprenticeship opportunities. Many self-employed electricians in Barnsley got their tickets via British Coal. The current government is starving local authorities of cash and employment opportunities there have therefore declined. Rising crime and falling police numbers, hardly surprising so increase police numbers. We've seen the rise in zero hours contracts, contracts that cannot guarantee income. Give a youngster a job that is meaningful, get them contributing to society and make them feel like citizens of somewhere.

 

Dan Jarvis is sorting it apparently.

 

I don't drink, or smoke, I have never taken any drugs, and I have never been in any legal trouble.

I can safely say national service would have been the worst thing to have ever happened to me. I would not respect some shouting, muscled goon demanding that I do this and that. I'd have rebelled and it would have ended very badly for me.

The big stick does not cure all.

 

W

wondered how long it would be before the thatcher government would be blamed
Seems to me anything goes wrong in this town it is thatchers government fault

 

It's an international problem affecting a whole host of countries inc. UK, Australia, USA... I don't blame any one person but looking into the history of the places with biggest concentration, unemployment and decimation of industries do appear to have an affect.

 

I think the last thing we need is to force young people into institutionally racist and homophobic structures.

I don't know what the solution is, but it does seem to be taking hold in impoverished areas where there is minimal opportunity.