The debate on this site is now closed. We have received over 800 comments from you.
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 21:38:30 GMT
Ian, Watton
Have you mentioned that the treatment you are providing isn't the only effective method available at this time? In comparison with Iboga I feel the treatment you are offering these patents is nothing less than cruel torture. If you have not discussed all the treatments available I feel you are misleading the addicts taking part in your show. READ THIS: http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/
healthmindandbody/story/0,6000,1045038,00.html
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 21:41:48 GMT
Gemma, willenhall
i just want to give thanks to my parents who have stuck by me through thick and thin, without them i dread to think of the situation i would be in now. they have saved my bacon a good many times. i went missing the once to this chap's house in wolves and didn't get in touch with my parents for about 2 months. i ended up living like a tramp, i had the same clothes on and hadn't had a bath for that long either. they went out there every night driving round looking for me, eventually they found me and i was in a right state. i had a virus though the gear and crack because i was injecting it. i got really ill off it. my mom and dad saved me so thanks, without you i'd be dead now i love you both loads. RESPECT TO THOSE 3 DOING THERE RATTLE, KEEP IT UP IT WILL BE WORTH IT.
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 21:31:27 GMT
gemma, willenhall
I think that this show is a great way to let people who haven't got a clue about heroin find out more and it's also a good way of letting younger people know what it's like. if i'd have seen something like this when i was younger i would definitley not have bothered because i never really knew how bad it was until it was too late. i knew that heroin was bad but didn't know how addictive it was until it was too late. I am now injecting and i really can't see no end to my addiction, every time i try to come off it as soon as i start rattling it goes straight out the window. i know i'm killing not only myself but also my parents. i've totally destroyed their lives and i feel so bad, but like i said when i'm rattling nothing comes in my head but getting my next fix. i've been to jail 3 times through this shit, i just hope that one day i will be as strong as those 3 who are doing their rattle and get off it myself.
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 21:02:09 GMT
stephen, chorley
if u ask me when u detox it's all in your head u have to be able to cope with life. once u can cope with that u will get through it
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 20:21:12 GMT
michelle, buckingham
as a former heroin addict i am shocked and disgusted that you seem to think heroin cold turkey is this easy. these people have been sedated and are in no way experiencing the first few days of real cold turkey. i have been through cold turkey (without the aid of sedatives painkillers etc) twice and am proud to say i have been clean for seven years now. i think you need to realise and make sure that the viewing public realise that this detox is not readily available to everyone. most are private costing around 4000 pounds. you show me an addict who has the money to put themselves through it. that's why you are footing the bill. why do you think it's ok to portray what can be a life or death matter in this way? it makes me really angry that instead of discouraging people to use heroin by showing them the real effects of heroin withdrawl all you have shown them that it's ok if they get a habit because they will think there will be a nice sedated detox when they can't handle it any more. wrong. there won't be.
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 20:07:23 GMT
laura, basildon
i am really impressed with the way you have tackled addiction week, especially with 'going cold turkey'. i work in the NHS and deal with these kinds of situations on a daily basis. While some people are shocked, even offended by these type of events, i think that this series shows the bigger picture. It shatters many beliefs people have of users and their situations. Such as, that many of them are 'down and outs' – the fact that you show users can still hold down a job is great, also that all users come from families, some from dysfunctional ones yes, but also from supportive, middle and even upper class families. It gives hope to many users and opens the public's eyes as to what really goes on. sometimes i think the public have become so cocooned in avoiding reality that they are so easily offended that issues get brushed aside and swept under the carpet. There definitely needs to be more awareness of addiction, so as users know they can get help and CAN kick the habit, it won't be easy, but it is possible. I was particularly pleased to see you doing a morning show, I know you are probably going to have a barrage of e-mails on the contrary, but I feel youngsters need to be shocked into seeing how it can take over your lives, as this is the age they mostly start. parents need to come out of their cocoon and realise that their children will be subjected to this outside of the home (and maybe even worse, in this day and age) and therefore may even indulge. Surely it's better to let them see the damage it causes before they decide to dabble with drugs themselves. it may be shocking, but at least it may be one more user saved! well done, also well done to the patients on the show, they are really brave and i admire them for that. good luck.
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 19:45:22 GMT
Adam, Burnley
I'm a recovering Addict and I was Addicted to Heroin for over 10years. I'm currently taking Methadone every waking day to give me sense of normality and have monthly counselling sessions for about an hour a time. Methadone is prescribed by the NHS as a Heroin substitute and is given as part of a reduction program to wean you off heroin. I no longer take Heroin and haven't done for coming up to a full year now. I am addicted methadone but it is a clinical prescribed drug and is still proven to help addicts who are recovering from a life-time of drug and Heroin Abuse. Every Addict will tell you this and that is that it's all about strength of mind. You will come off Heroin when you are ready to come off Heroin. Methadone is a controlled Drug Heroin is not. If you can't get yourself on a reduction program then it's very unlikely that Five days of cold turkey will do the same thing either. It's got to be something you will do off your own back and not under a forced Supervised 5day Detox program...
Created: Tuesday 21-Feb-2006 19:18:44 GMT
Adam, London
The truth is that the prohibition of opiates is probably the cruellest and most destructive thing that been done to society since the Industrial Revolution. Since opiates are now illegal it means that their prescription by doctors has been totally over-regulated. Conditions that up until very recently would have received morphine for problems such as broken ribs or arthritis often get nothing stronger than Aspirin or Ibuprofen "in case of drug abuse". Why should we suffer painful conditions without analgesia because a group of moral zealots insist on trying to do the impossible: Get people who want to harm themseleves to stop. It is also done in the name of a BIG LIE. No matter how you cut it Vices are NOT Crimes. Crimes involve a victim looking for justice. A heroin addict taking his fix hurts no one until foolish politicians try to use the criminal law to control individual behaviour and create the very thing destroying our society; not the drugs themseleves but the CRIMINAL black market that forces addicts to rob, steal and prostitute themselves to buy the drugs that cost pennies on prescription.
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 16:53:30 GMT
sal, London
The problem of addiction is not in getting clean but in staying clean. I am dubious about the effectiveness of the 5 day detox method, especially when 2 days is spent so heavily sedated with anti-psychotics. Although I am sure Channel 4's aims are laudable, I wonder how well researched this programme was and how helpful it will really be to drug users and their families? Addicts leave detox to find a gaping hole in their lives where the drugs used to be. In this particular case they will also find withdrawal is far from over after such a short and sedated detox. Unless they can access some sort of structured rehab program to fill that hole they are doomed to failure – and in full view of the media. I have struggled with opioid, benzo and alcohol addiction for 35 years, scouring the system from end to end in search of ways to stay clean. It's not easy. Mostly one is either beating one's head against a brick wall of authoritative "experts" or drowning in an ocean of abject humiliation and failure. The addicts and their families have all my sympathy. I fear that, as usual, the media will make mincemeat of them before kicking them back into the gutter. It makes for disturbing viewing.
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 18:59:36 GMT
lee ollett, hull
i am a 27 year old drug user. do the young people of today get the right education at schools, because there wasn't nowt at all back when i was younger. all young people need to see the full facts of how a good one night turns to a life of regrets.
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 18:26:29 GMT
Helen, UK
I am really glad you are highlighting the problems for Heroin users. Both my boyfriend's children got into using the drug. Times have not been easy. It's not an easy subject to tackle. Someone needs to do it. My experiences seem to tell me it's getting out of control in some areas. I believe there is no point doing a detox unless you follow it up with a Naltrexone Implant. You don't give them a chance otherwise.
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 18:26:29 GMT
Sharon, UK
My Step son has recently undergone a detox in the Isle of Wight and straight away had an implant which should last 12 months. He has been using Heroin for the past 7 years. Much of that time he has spent in and out of prison. Always planning to sort himself out each time. He has been given 2 DTTO from the courts each has failed. In 2004 his sister was murdered. She was working as a prostitute to fund her own drug habit. Even that didn't stop him. He's had pneumonia his sister got him into hospital. He had been living on the streets for over a year since getting out of prison. He's over dosed. That didn't stop him or her. His veins collapsed last year. That was the turning point for him. He had to want the implant. He asked and we had him down there the next day ... Highlighting this problem is what we need. We need to keep our kids away from the stuff...
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 17:40:00 GMT
eve, stoke on trent
As an ex-heroin user I cannot see how you can possibly think that you are going to change these people's lives within five days. Yes you can get the heroin out of their bodies but that's not the hard part it's the easiest bit. You need to find out why they took the drug in the first place and deal with that (there are countless reasons and issues) and you need to put in ongoing support afterwards to help them change their lifestyles. I have now been clean for 13 years and yet sometimes still want it desperately. I have a friend living with me who I have helped to detox numerous times over the last year but he quickly went back to it. This time I invited him to come and live with me and helped him to totally change his lifestyle and friends and with a lot of hard work it has so far worked and he's done a few months of negative samples. He's on naltrexone which I give to him each day and make sure he swallows but the only reason it's worked is because he was so determined to make the most of all the help. He's changed most of his mates (they were mostly smackheads), and changed where and how he lived. He's learning to adopt a more 'normal' lifestyle of eating regularly and healthily because years of heroin abuse has left him with numerous physical problems. The naltrexone has so many side effects that it's certainly not the easy option...
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 18:38:58 GMT
siobhan, essex
i think the show is really good even after the first night. it already highlights the troubles people experience when trying to keep clean and to get off drugs and the lenghts people will go to, to get drugs. i'm really enjoying it and find it educational as a newly qualified nurse.
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 18:02:52 GMT
Denis, Jersey
I think it's great that finaly society is able to see this side of heroin addiction. It's important that people understand how hard it is to go cold turkey. I've been addicted to Dihydrocodeine for 4 years ... for 4 years these tablets have controled my life. Since the start of your programme i have started on a detox course set out by my GP so thank you Channel 4 for spurring me on to get help with my addiction.
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 17:51:03 GMT
sharon, hartlepool
i think this show shows that addicts are just normal with normal lives not people you shy away from in the street. i have never taken drugs but when i spot an addict in the street i cling on to my handbag and hurry past but thanks to the show i am less judgemental towards them. the funny thing is that i have an addiction my self which nobody knows about only my husband. (tramadol) is a painkiller and i ache in every joint and i am so moody and to look at me you would think i had a bad case of the flu so i do understand their pain a little. i wish i could stop the painkillers but i don't want any one to know out of embarrasment to me and my family.
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 17:34:33 GMT
Louise, Cleveland
Why are you not highlighting the problem of addictive prescription drugs, my husband has been addicted to dihydracodeine (very stong painkillers) for about 10 years now, and his doctors continue to over prescibe them to him – he takes approx 15 120mg tablets a day (it's supposed to be 2!!) he is not dead YET!! the doctors know he is addicted as he has told them and begged for help, yet they simply give him even more of the same tablets. We need help, but whenever we ask about rehab, we were told that because he is prescribed the drugs we cannot get help and cannot afford the alternative of a private clinic, we have fought to get him on a methadone program and even still he now takes massive amounts of methadone to combat going 'cold turkey' and still slips from time to time taking tablets. We have been told that the amount of dihydracodeine he was taken each day was equivalent to lots and lots of heroin. In conclusion it seems to me that drink and illegal drugs are always highlighted (help is offered for free if you are addicted to heroin) and yet presciption drugs cause just as much heartache and pain whillst only costing the price of your presciption – I think more needs to be done.
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 17:15:18 GMT
stephanie, birmingham
my daughter has been an addict since 18 through boys. i have now got a resident order of my granchild who went throught what they r going through. there is no help out there. several times my daughter has asked for help and it going to cost me £3000. she is now on the streets for money for her addiction. were can u get real help from not only for them but the ones that have kids from their habit, parents and granparents?
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 17:10:09 GMT
anne, lincs
i have lost my son to heroin but to try to get help for him is nearly impossible despite the government saying that help is available, there is so much red tape that for most it is probably too late. I wonder what tony blair would do if it was his son or daughter but then he has the funds to send him or her to a £2000 a week rehab. most of us are not in that position. I do realise that it is their choice to try these drugs but once on them there is often no going back.
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 17:05:25 GMT
Mick, stoke on trent
I'm currently on a detox programe ordered by the court to help me kick my heroin addiction. I sympathise with the patients you are detoxing and fully understand what they must be feeling. Although i am aware that you have a great team to work with these people i can't stress enough that this drug cannot be beaten in five days. All aspects of the drug problem must be confronted like the reason for taking the drug in the first place. Eg abuse suffered as a child, depression, or any other phsychological probs. As the drug finaly leaves the body emotions and feelings not felt for years tend to come back with a vengance and unless you prepare these people with the tools to deal with these emotions then you are setting them up to fail. I speak from experience as i have tried to kick the habit a number of times but heroin is not just a physicaly addictive drug but mentaly adictive too. I am currently drug free and am prescribed naltrexone, which i take daily. I wish you and any body who wishes to give up heroin all the luck in the world as it is not easy. The fight is not over just because you no longer take heroin you will have to fight this addiction for the rest of your life I wish you all the best for the future and would like to say that it can be done.
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 16:55:53 GMT
Jodie, Hereford
It's about time that the uneducated people of britain know what we have to go through to get off this soul destroing drug. There is just not enough awareness in the public to know what it does to you. And the government have got to sort out the drugs clinics, the waiting lists are just too long. When you decide to get off drugs you need the help straight away not in a few months because by then it's too late.
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 17:03:20 GMT
kim, birmingham
as an ex heroin/crack addict i think a gradual detox in society is better than being taken from society for five days go through a rapid detox and then back to society. as long as they take the tablets it will work. but i believe these people need on going support in the community to make sure they don't stop taking naltrexone. i personally did a slow detox on subutex and came off them in my own time when i was ready. these people have depended on something for so long and now it's gone they need counselling and support not just tablets. GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF THEM
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 16:44:54 GMT
Darren, scunthorpe
I have had no personal experience of drug addicts or addiction, but after reading the comments on this site i believe that if you are an addict because of the lack of resourses it would appear you are damned. It's a habit that totaly wrecks the lives of normal people and their families. If it were child abuse or rape, then society would expect help for the emotional trauma of all those affected. It appears that pushers/suppliers cause anguish to entire families in taking money to feed an addict's craving for drugs. Then for someone to actually kick the habit, institutions like Detox5 cause more trauma by taking huge ammounts of money off families who could ill afford it with no guarantee of kicking the habit. If i paid to have a problem sorted, i would expect some garauntee of resolve. It seems that being an addict you're somewhat damned for your addiction by society. If you try and relieve your addiction with the likes of Detox5, if it doesnt work, then you're damned because unless you have money to pay for treatment, they wouldn't be interested. It appears weaning people off the habit isn't the major problem, it's the support and reasurrance they need for emotional support afterwards. A 5 day dettox i think only scratches the surface of a very deep problem. Without the proper support afterwards the detox is a waste of time. People become desperate looking for a fix to the problem, desperate people will pay for that fix and there are many people willing to take their money. My best friend's sister WAS one of those that tried a detox programme 4 times. i'm afraid to say i'm not going to have the chance to meet her, she's no longer with us. I don't blame the detox programmes, i blame the false hope they often represent.
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 16:36:16 GMT
David, Newport
Looking back at my life I used heroin to combat my mixed up, paranoid mind, which I had acquired through injecting mountains of speed and dropping too many LSD trips. At the time the only safety net I had was alcohol, which I needed a minimum of 6 pints of snakebite to get me through another night. So when my first hit of heroin hit my brain, I knew I was addicted to this substance. For my state of mind at the time it was what the doctor ordered. People self-medicate all the time, whether it be alcohol or fresh cream cakes. I needed a drug to stop me thinking, to switch my brain off for a while and heroin did that for me in the beginning. The early heroin days were some of the most pleasurable experiences I had ever had with drugs. Drifting (gouching) out to an inner world of images slowly rolling by. As my tolerance rose I could go out after a hit and have a drink then a gouch. But like everybody else who has trodden this path eventuallly I was doing it just to stay well. OK occasionally we would get some top grade gear which, with a drink would make me gouch. But most of the time it was doing it to stay well. This is when you realise you're in deep and need help. Hence methadone came my way and I have not been off it for over 10 years. I have tried in psychiatric hospitals but for me and most people I have spoken to I was underdosed and was given the feeling I was not a welcome patient. So now I am on a bucket load of methadone, waiting for the diamorphine 'shortage' to resolve itself. Then I will be transferred to diamorphine as methadone is not the drug I am addicted to. I am an opiate addict and need heroin not some man made substitute. Yes I am having a moan but it is my life, I am 40 now and I want to spend the rest of it as comfortable as possible.
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 16:45:36 GMT
sarah, folkestone
i would also like 2 ad that i worked on my self wen once in rehab which was very hard due 2 other addicts at the place each with individual needs of their own, and 6 mths was no way enough 4 me. i would have done 1yr if given the opportunity. there r 2 many addicts in prison, if addicts were sent 2 rehab instead of prison wouldn't there b enough room 4 those that commit more serious crimes? surely it would cost less 4 re hab 4 an addict i would still b an addict if not 4 the various agencies involved.
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 16:48:44 GMT
Kat, Birmingham
Just wondering why you've called this programme going cold turkey (seeing as they are constantly sedated), if you wanted to raise awareness to put people off taking drugs in the future especially the younger generation maybe you should have done a programme on real cold turkey. As an ex addict myself I'd like to point out that the process of going real cold turkey itself is likely to put you off using drugs.
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 16:40:11 GMT
Aaron, 16, FALMOUTH
being honest it's good to see this being screened over TV becuase it shows a range of people what drugs can do. At my school there any many drug abusers ranging from cannabis to heroin and i don't think they are thinking of the consequences. this has taught me more in one episode that all of those lessons in school!
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 16:33:11 GMT
Susan, Petersfield
I am the mother of a 23yr old recovering heroin addict. In desperation I became a member of Families Anonymous 5 years ago and it was the best thing I could possibly have done for me and for my son. We both live our own lives now. We make our own choices and take responsibility for our own actions. FA saved my sanity. They have meetings each week all over the UK and a help line; 0845 1200 660
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 16:24:16 GMT
sarah, folkestone
i was an addict 4 approx 4/5 yrs, have been clean 4 3 yrs in september. i nearly lost my 2 beautiful children, if it wasn't 4 the professional help and support of s.s n substance misuse and putting me in rehab i would have lost everything. i do not agree with methadone it is worse 2 come off, i do not agree with detox 5 u r asleep what is the point of being asleep. the pain is absolutely awful when detoxing off meth and awake but i would not have had it any other way cos i know i will never go back (1)if i went back most important of all i would lose my children through social services that in it self keeps me going (2) i would die no way (3rdly) the drug destroys a very huge part of u as a person. i love life 2 the full and still working on self every day that i have been clean and will continue 2 do so every day of my life.
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 16:14:03 GMT
carrie, Dundee
I would like to say that i'm an ex addict and have been clean for 1yr and that my mother and father used heroin and are now dead. So it sure affects the children involved and i just wish i would have had the chance at a childhood without drugs. And maybe my life would be different. So i wish that the drug users involved in the show that have children and families don't just think of the effect on them – it can destroy all the lives around them. thanks for reading
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 15:54:56 GMT
Bec, Birmingham
My boyfriend was a heroin addict for the last 10 years and we have been together for the last 3 years and fortunately he has now been clean for 5 months. I agree with a lot of people that this programme is not particularly showing a true picture of an addict going 'cold turkey'. I have seen him try and rattle about 3 times and although he never went through with it fully I found just a short time difficult to deal with, let alone him. How nice would it have been for him to be sedated for the majority of the rattle, so he didn't feel like he was dying. Would've made things so much easier. For anyone maybe getting into this and thinking that this is the extent of your turkey you are very much mistaken! He did a rapid home detox using Subutex for 3 weeks and managed to stay clean for 5 weeks, but now has a DTTO and is on a low doseage of Subutex. This is really working and I am the most positive i have been about him and us for a very long time. Every day is still hard but it's getting better and things WILL be good. Coming off heroin is the easy part – staying off is the hard part, but as these other posts show it can be done! I have nothing but respect and admiration for everyone who has managed to stay clean! Good luck to everyone! x
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 16:21:02 GMT
Kat, Sussex
As an ex addict myself I have a few concerns over what exactly Channel 4 propose to do when these addicts leave detox after 5 days, the telephone support offered by detox 5 is hardly enough to support them. I hope that you do more to ensure their recoveries are successful as detox from the physical withdrawal from drugs is only a small part in the process of recovery and is in no sense a full recovery, after 5 days these addicts will still be at high risk of relapsing.
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 16:07:06 GMT
Hollie, 15, Nottingham
i think i may have made a bad choice of smoking weed as now after three years i am a self confessed addict. i move in the circles where drugs are at hand anytime i have never tried anything else but i hate what weed has done to me it has changed me dramatically and has broken bridges in my family that now can not be fixed. i still smoke weed excessively and wished i had never tried. People say "just try it" DONT! drugs have rewind me as a person and starting on my life.
Created: Tuesday, 21-Feb-2006 16:00:11 GMT
Matthew, Wigan
I lost a cousin to heroin 4 years ago and yet the number of heroin related deaths are still on the rise. As a society, do you feel we are under-educated about the harmful effects of drugs?