Bribing addicts to get the snip
18 October 2010, 08:46 AM
#1
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Bribing addicts to get the snip
Drug addicts across the UK are being offered money to be sterilised by an American charity.
Project Prevention is offering to pay £200 to any drug user in London, Glasgow, Bristol, Leicester and parts of Wales who agrees to be operated on.
The first person in the UK to accept the cash is drug addict "John" from Leicester who says he "should never be a father".
The move has been criticised by some drug charities who work with addicts.
Project Prevention founder Barbara Harris admitted her methods amounted to "bribery", but said it was the only way to stop babies being physically and mentally damaged by drugs during pregnancy.
Drug treatment charity Addaction estimates one million children in the UK are living with parents who abuse drugs.
Pregnant addicts can pass on the dependency to the unborn child, leading to organ and brain damage.
Mrs Harris set up her charity in North Carolina after adopting the children of a crack addict.
Damage to children
Speaking to the BBC's Inside Out programme, she said: "The birth mother of my children obviously dabbled in all drugs and alcohol - she literally had a baby every year for eight years.
"I get very angry about the damage that drugs do to these children."
After paying 3,500 addicts across the United States not to have children, she is now visiting parts of the UK blighted by drugs to encourage users to undergo "long-term birth control" for cash.
John, a 38-year-old addict from Leicester, is the first person in the UK to accept money to have a vasectomy after being involved in drugs since he was 12.
He said: "It was something that I'd been thinking about for a long time.
"I won't be able to support a kid; I can just about manage to support myself."
Simon Antrobus, chief executive of Addaction, said while no-one wanted to see children brought up in a drug-using environment, there was no place for Project Prevention in the UK.
"It exploits very vulnerable people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol at probably the lowest point in their lives," he said.
The Reverend Robert Black, of Victory Outreach, which works with former addicts in east London, said he thought Project Prevention's aims were "very devious".
Reversible contraception
Maria Cripps, project manager at the Hackney Dovetail Centre which works with drug users and their carers, said: "I think Barbara uses some very extreme examples to get her point across. It might work in America but Great Britain is a very different country."
But Reverend Martin Blakebrough, director of Camden's Kaleidoscope Project in north London, said sterilisation was "worth considering" if it was right for the individual.
A spokesperson at the British Medical Association said: "The BMA's ethics committee does not have a view on the charity Project Prevention.
"As with all requests for treatment, doctors need to be confident that the individual has the capacity to make the specific decision at the time the decision is required.
"The BMA's ethics committee also believes that doctors should inform patients of the benefits of reversible contraception so that the patients have more reproductive choices in the future."
Project Prevention is offering to pay £200 to any drug user in London, Glasgow, Bristol, Leicester and parts of Wales who agrees to be operated on.
The first person in the UK to accept the cash is drug addict "John" from Leicester who says he "should never be a father".
The move has been criticised by some drug charities who work with addicts.
Project Prevention founder Barbara Harris admitted her methods amounted to "bribery", but said it was the only way to stop babies being physically and mentally damaged by drugs during pregnancy.
Drug treatment charity Addaction estimates one million children in the UK are living with parents who abuse drugs.
Pregnant addicts can pass on the dependency to the unborn child, leading to organ and brain damage.
Mrs Harris set up her charity in North Carolina after adopting the children of a crack addict.
Damage to children
Speaking to the BBC's Inside Out programme, she said: "The birth mother of my children obviously dabbled in all drugs and alcohol - she literally had a baby every year for eight years.
"I get very angry about the damage that drugs do to these children."
After paying 3,500 addicts across the United States not to have children, she is now visiting parts of the UK blighted by drugs to encourage users to undergo "long-term birth control" for cash.
John, a 38-year-old addict from Leicester, is the first person in the UK to accept money to have a vasectomy after being involved in drugs since he was 12.
He said: "It was something that I'd been thinking about for a long time.
"I won't be able to support a kid; I can just about manage to support myself."
Simon Antrobus, chief executive of Addaction, said while no-one wanted to see children brought up in a drug-using environment, there was no place for Project Prevention in the UK.
"It exploits very vulnerable people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol at probably the lowest point in their lives," he said.
The Reverend Robert Black, of Victory Outreach, which works with former addicts in east London, said he thought Project Prevention's aims were "very devious".
Reversible contraception
Maria Cripps, project manager at the Hackney Dovetail Centre which works with drug users and their carers, said: "I think Barbara uses some very extreme examples to get her point across. It might work in America but Great Britain is a very different country."
But Reverend Martin Blakebrough, director of Camden's Kaleidoscope Project in north London, said sterilisation was "worth considering" if it was right for the individual.
A spokesperson at the British Medical Association said: "The BMA's ethics committee does not have a view on the charity Project Prevention.
"As with all requests for treatment, doctors need to be confident that the individual has the capacity to make the specific decision at the time the decision is required.
"The BMA's ethics committee also believes that doctors should inform patients of the benefits of reversible contraception so that the patients have more reproductive choices in the future."
Its a win /lose scenario, great they not produce kids and sponge the benefits. But they're given £200 to buy more crack
18 October 2010, 09:00 AM
#2
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£200 won't buy much crack.
I think it's a great idea .... roll it out on the Council estates too - offer them a free visit to Jeremy Kyle and snip them there.
I think it's a great idea .... roll it out on the Council estates too - offer them a free visit to Jeremy Kyle and snip them there.
18 October 2010, 10:23 AM
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Just seen them talk about this on the Wright Stuff, and they seemed to be worried about the exploitation of vulnerable people.
I'd have to agree with the woman offering the money. Its a cracking idea (pun intended). These people are drug addicts who take all sorts of crap, might as well give them some cash and ensure they don't bring life into their world.
If they get themselves cleaned up, and get a job, then they can pay to have the treatment reversed.
I'm not against these people, they are adults and can make a choice. Its the kids they produce who have had no choice, and hardly get a good start to life. Arriving into the world addicted to drugs is a horrible way to start a life.
I'd have to agree with the woman offering the money. Its a cracking idea (pun intended). These people are drug addicts who take all sorts of crap, might as well give them some cash and ensure they don't bring life into their world.
If they get themselves cleaned up, and get a job, then they can pay to have the treatment reversed.
I'm not against these people, they are adults and can make a choice. Its the kids they produce who have had no choice, and hardly get a good start to life. Arriving into the world addicted to drugs is a horrible way to start a life.
18 October 2010, 10:33 AM
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Nit difficult to cure them Les, they choose to stay on drugs, they choose this lifestyle in 99% of cases. It is a lifestyle choice. They get benefits and housing and are able to maintain the life and drug abuse at a cost to everybody.
It is not an illness it is not a sickness. It is a choice!
It is not an illness it is not a sickness. It is a choice!
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18 October 2010, 10:36 AM
#8
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am i the only one who has no sympthay at all for them? vulnerable people? there the ones who starting shoving the crap in there arms or up there noses in the first place.
18 October 2010, 10:48 AM
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...via smokers, people who drink alcohol, take one aspirin too many 
People who don't know the difference between their and there
christian charity that's promoting this by the way
People who don't know the difference between their and there
christian charity that's promoting this by the way
Last edited by what would scooby do; 18 October 2010 at 10:49 AM.
18 October 2010, 11:12 AM
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Nit difficult to cure them Les, they choose to stay on drugs, they choose this lifestyle in 99% of cases. It is a lifestyle choice. They get benefits and housing and are able to maintain the life and drug abuse at a cost to everybody.
It is not an illness it is not a sickness. It is a choice!
It is not an illness it is not a sickness. It is a choice!
Les
18 October 2010, 02:16 PM
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A friend of mine is a recovering heroin addict. I knew him as a kid and lost contact 20 years ago only to make contact again last year. His story is harrowing - being abused as a kid and by a school teacher at that, to having problems with his mother (mental health issues) threatening him with a knife. He's lived his life to the full, working as a chef (Michelin starred at that) and being an adreninin junkie on the piste then sliding the slope through hash, coke to heroin. He's been clean for two years now and is slowly getting his life back on track, so I disagree with most of what's written here as my mate would/will make an excellent father.
18 October 2010, 02:26 PM
#21
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A friend of mine is a recovering heroin addict. I knew him as a kid and lost contact 20 years ago only to make contact again last year. His story is harrowing - being abused as a kid and by a school teacher at that, to having problems with his mother (mental health issues) threatening him with a knife. He's lived his life to the full, working as a chef (Michelin starred at that) and being an adreninin junkie on the piste then sliding the slope through hash, coke to heroin. He's been clean for two years now and is slowly getting his life back on track, so I disagree with most of what's written here as my mate would/will make an excellent father.
18 October 2010, 02:35 PM
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18 October 2010, 02:46 PM
#24
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A friend and his wife were both on smack. They discovered she was pregnant and stopped there and then - they were split up from each other for 6 months by the parents and got clean. They now have 3 altogether and are delightful parents.
However, they are in the minority. If this stops addicts getting each other pregnant and causing untold damage to themselves and their children then its nothing but a good idea.
And this business about where will it end - don't be so silly. You'll be wanting to snip ginger haired kids next!
18 October 2010, 04:31 PM
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What happens if they clean up their act,and some do, and then they realise they would have loved to have children.
I think they need loads of counselling before they make any hasty decisions.
18 October 2010, 04:37 PM
#27
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I'm not sure about it. At the time, when they are most needy, £200 will sound like a lot.
What happens if they clean up their act,and some do, and then they realise they would have loved to have children.
I think they need loads of counselling before they make any hasty decisions.
What happens if they clean up their act,and some do, and then they realise they would have loved to have children.
I think they need loads of counselling before they make any hasty decisions.
If they are really clean enough to survive on their own and be able to deal with a child then look into having it reversed - if possible.
My wife has a cousin thats on smack, has been for years. All 3 of her kids are looked after by her mother - she can't deal with them. All 3 kids are very weird - the two boys in particular are almost ferral in their behaviour.
Its not as if you can't have it done anyway - I think for a man you have to be over 30 to have it done on the NHS so its not like its new - just the bribe to save some children years of misery.
18 October 2010, 06:47 PM
#29
Does this also apply to all those middle-class women addicted to benzodiazapines? Far more of them than heroin addicts. What about the hundreds, if not thousands, of doctors addicted to various prescription and otherwise drugs, up to and including diamorphine? Or, as I suspect, is it only aimed at plebs?
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