is this a problem??
Young 'turning to cheaper heroin'
A tenth of a gram costs just £10, say users in Swansea
Teenagers in Swansea say they are smoking heroin because cannabis is almost impossible to buy.
The Class A drug can be bought for just £10 for a small bag of about 100mg, BBC Wales' Dragon's Eye was told.
A homelessness charity in the city said youths mistakenly believe they could use the drug safely.
Police confirmed that heroin's street price had halved in recent years but said Swansea had less of a drugs problem than other areas.
One youth told the programme it was very easy to buy heroin there.
He said: "You either know a dealer or you know someone who knows a dealer... some drugs are drying out and people are turning to harder things."
He said the price of heroin on the streets was £10 for 0.1 grams.
Another teenager said: "I've lived in Birmingham, Blackpool, Stoke-on-Trent, Leicester. The worst place for drugs is Swansea."
"Some drugs are drying out and people are turning to harder things"
Young drug user
Sarah O'Leary, of the Swansea Young Single Homeless Project, said the youngsters often believed they could handle the hard drug.
She said: "They do start using once or twice a week then in a couple of months its four, five, six times a week...(in) a year's time they could be using it every day.
"They just smoke it, then, when they don't get the same effect off smoking it they'll start injecting it and that is when it becomes a real issue."
Enforcement
Plaid Cymru AM Leanne Wood, who used to work as a probation officer, said she had seen numerous people who wrongly believed they could keep their heroin use under control.
She said the only way homeless teenagers could fund that sort of habit was by turning to crime.
A South Wales Police spokesman said the force was using "all available enforcement methods to arrest and deal with offenders."
He said: "We also work closely with local treatment agencies and wherever possible offer the facilities that are available to users of the drug in an attempt to break their habit."
The spokesman wanted to dispel any impression that Swansea's drug problem was particularly acute.
He said: "I can reassure you that this city has a much less problem with drugs than other places in England and Wales."
Pinky Hammy...
Pinky Hammy...
Get your mind out of the gutter - it's blocking my view
Mind like a steel trap - Rusty and Illegal in 37 states.
Pinky Hammy...
And this only adds to my argument that decriminalizing such hard drugs would not only not help the current drug situation, but make it much worse.
Pinky Hammy...
Hamster;479750 wrote: It wouldn't make any difference K...it is so easy to get here anyway..
That along with many other things, I don't believe even if it were decriminalized no one is going to make it cheap enough to where it would make the least little bit of difference...It's cheap enough as it is...the problem is their addiction, not the cost of the drug(I'll accept that as my opinion for obvious reasons)
No organization would go into legalized drug dealing if it were to be non profitable...So we are left with step one again. I understand there are non profit organizations out there, but even in such a case, they would need to sustain some sort of a profit in order to keep the organization going...I don't hardly believe starving themselves as a result of helping those in need is any type of a logical solution.
That along with many other things, I don't believe even if it were decriminalized no one is going to make it cheap enough to where it would make the least little bit of difference...It's cheap enough as it is...the problem is their addiction, not the cost of the drug(I'll accept that as my opinion for obvious reasons)
No organization would go into legalized drug dealing if it were to be non profitable...So we are left with step one again. I understand there are non profit organizations out there, but even in such a case, they would need to sustain some sort of a profit in order to keep the organization going...I don't hardly believe starving themselves as a result of helping those in need is any type of a logical solution.