Drug addict asks for jail sentence (From Salisbury Journal)
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Drug addict asks for jail sentence
2:40pm Thursday 2nd February 2012 in News By Journal Reporter
A DRUG addict asked magistrates to send him to prison after he was charged with possession of heroin.
Duncan James Chaney, 31, was followed by police in an unmarked police car on August 4 last year and caught with eight wraps of heroin.
He pleaded guilty to possession of a class A drug and appeared at Salisbury Magistrates Court on Wednesday for sentencing.
The court heard Chaney had struggled with addiction to alcohol and heroin for a number of years.
Nick Redhead, defending, said: “My client has dealt with probation many times over a period of years. His sense with certain community orders is that it gets a bit like Groundhog Day and probation might be tempted to feel rather the same way.
“He is grateful to those who have been supporting him but he is in his own opinion at high risk of committing fresh offences and high risk of continuing to use heroin over the coming months.
“With the greatest of respect, he has told me of his unwillingness to comply with any community order.”
Mr Redhead asked magistrates to impose an immediate custodial sentence of at least 10 weeks so Chaney could receive treatment and deal with his drug addiction in prison.
He said that if Chaney was given a community order, there would be an “overwhelming possibility” of him being back in court within weeks.
“The silver lining is that prison gives him the opportunity to get clean of heroin,” said Mr Redhead.
“I’d like to reiterate his thanks and appreciation to the probation service but he doesn’t want to waste any more of their time.”
Magistrate Nina Gibson said: “We’ve listened to all the details and due to your previous record and indication that you will not comply with an order, we are going to send you into custody.”
Chaney was sentenced to 20 weeks in prison.
Comments(2)
GreenTara
says...
8:11pm Wed 8 Feb 12
Addiction is a very complicated and painful issue, people have very strong views, depending on their experiences and it can be very a very emotive subject.
A friend of mine has recently been released from prison, he was asking to be let out on a script that would block his receptors so he would be unable to use, or if he did he would not be able to get anything from it. On his second day out he had an appointment with a drugs counsellor who cancelled on him at short notice ... and from the man I picked up who was full of energy and plans for his clean life I saw him use and shut down on me, in front of my very eyes. It was heartbreaking to see and has upset me immensely. Like Duncan my friend is known and a nuisance locally with his crime and drug use, round and round he goes. Stealing, Using, Prison, surely there is a better way...
I have worked in the drug field and seen both sides, working in it and living with it and and it is soul destroying when you try and help people, offering treatments, expensive rehab places etc... trying to get Addicts to engage in services offered to them and they just go back out and use when treatment is finished.
From my experience Addicts use time in jail for a rest and to get some clean time and when they are out they start the cycle again until maybe they have had enough.
It can only come from the individual person.
I am sure people working in Authorities are doing their very best and it must be so frustrating that they see same faces over and over and nothing changes with them.
I don't know what the answer is.
The whole subject is just heartbreaking.
Tara.
Peter Graham Dyche says...
11:32am Fri 3 Feb 12
What a sad indictment on society it is when a defendents solicitor has to recommend a prison sentence basically on the grounds that treatment received in a prison exceeds that which can be obtained within society!
I have spoken to a number of people (both users and non-users) about the effectiveness of the so-called drug treatment programmes available within society.
It seems to be the general consensus that the failure rate is abysmal on these courses; that they are simply a means of being seen to do something.
No doubt the people who run these courses will start bleating that what I have said is untrue.
However, it would be interesting to collate all the relevant information from agencies such as SADAS, and obtained via the Freedom of Information Act, to test that hypothesis.
(Acronyms sometimes have a strange way of reflecting the truth).
I do not think we can judge addicts because we do not know the traumatic experieces that have led to such a lifestyle.
I hope that Mr.Chaney will successfully address his problems in the coming weeks and find that, irrespective of past personal negative experiences, there is much more to life than walking the path of self destruction.
Kind Regards
Peter Graham Dyche