Wasted and wasting

Drugs are such fun, aren't they?

The heroin addict I interviewed today was not yet 30, but looked middle-aged. He was a pleasant young man with good parents who still support him, and a happy childhood background. At 16 he experienced the euphoria of his first heroin rush at a party. He then went into the Army, but quickly became disillusioned and left to return home. With no structure or sense of where he was going, he revisited the magic H, and his life has been a slave to the drug ever since.

His arms were a mosaic of abscesses, needle scars and open sores. He rolled up his trousers to show me the same on his legs. His hands had swelled to the size of small bunches of bananas as, with his veins now collapsed, he had taken to trying to find injection sites in his fingers.

This is the reality of entrenched drugs addiction. He is using £40 a day of street heroin on a legal income of £50 a week State benefits. The rest comes from crime. Where else - unless he sets himself up as a dealer?

Illegal drugs have a massive impact on individuals, families and society in terms of crime and social problems. Prohibition is simply not working. There are no simple answers, but surely the time is right for a bigger debate, including exploring the option of heroin on prescription?