By Maxie Richards, Glasgow, Scotland
Director, Maxie Richards Foundation
www.maxirichards.org

Two-and-a-half-year-old, weakened by starvation, cold, deprivation, and physical abuse, paid the scapegoat price for
this careless society and gave up the fight to live. Scott was a victim of malignant neglect, not just by his drug-crazed parents, but
by the society into which he was born, where neglect, in various forms, has become commonplace. A parent’s’ right to choose, at any
cost, a pleasure-seeking lifestyle, rules, while laws change to allow drug-taking on an unprecedented scale. The silent sufferers are the children.

The long-term effect becomes all too clear, as children, unable to cope with the chaos in their lives, become aggressive and disruptive, serving an
apprenticeship for addiction. This Government’s answer is so-called “harm reduction.” This evil drug policy has been in place for 30 years or so. Its cornerstone is free choice for individuals to take drugs, and it promotes “safe use” – whatever that means. It focuses on the individual, never the family, the dependants, or the community. This policy promotes the lie that drugs are here to stay, and there is nothing we can do about it except “reduce harm.” Addicts are enabled to take drugs and are given, at the taxpayers’ expense, all necessary means.

“Harm reduction” adherents are fanatical about protecting this system,even though it has been responsible for the drug crisis in society. We have
built a gigantic business on the backs of drug addicts (called ‘clients’), and people grow fat on the proceeds. The tax-paying public remains in denial. Perhaps people believe this couldn’t be happening. It is. Parents of addicted children, exploited by the system, live the nightmare daily. The society we are creating through malignant neglect is not one we will want to live in. Scott Saunders is not the first to endure a living hell and prolonged death. Unless we act, the rot won’t stop.

Forty years ago, the Scandinavian countries looked at “harm reduction.” Their findings led them to scrap any notion of adopting such a policy.
Every government agency had to adopt a drug-free stance and promote drug prevention. It was made abundantly clear that drug addiction was not an acceptable way of living. Sweden set up European Cities Against Drugs, developing strategies for a safe, drug-free society, and proving that it can be done.

In Rutherglen, an outwardly respectable neighbourhood of Glasgow, Scott Saunders was subjected to appalling abuse and neglect. One hundred fifty wounds were found on his body; he had been systematically deprived of food, and his eventual death from starvation came after he had been left alone in the house for three days.

We must be brave enough to face up to our failures and to the treason yes, treason – which is undermining our way of life, canceling our workforce,and damaging, often terminally, our young people, while imperceptibly luring us into accepting the unacceptable. Don’t believe the lies, the platitudes,the excuses, the cover-up of so-called “harm reduction” drug policies. We are all responsible for the death of Scott through negligence.

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