Prisoners Get Free Drug Kits, Cancer Victim Gets Old Syringes

Seriously ill cancer patients are having their syringes rationed – while prisoners get free heroin kits to take drugs safely. The parents of six-year-old Anton McManus are among those incensed by a system that forces them to reuse the syringes needed to keep him alive every day.

Meanwhile cons are given kits including syringes so they can take heroin safely in Scottish jails. Anton, of East Kilbride, had a massive tumour on his spine and needed chemo-therapy and radiation as well as major surgery. His mum Tami, 31, said: “I’ve been ordered to wash syringes while junkies are getting free heroin kits.

“Anton was diagnosed two years ago with the rare bone cancer Ewing’s Sarcoma. He’s had a 14-hour operation to remove two ribs. He is fed through a tube and needs 15 or 20 syringes of drugs a day but he never complains.” The family say staff at Glasgow’s Royal Hospital for Sick Children told them to wash the syringes by hand. Tami said: “Some of them are months old.”

Jim Dawson, of the Scottish Prison Officers Association, said: “This highlights a crazy system where the rights of a prisoner are put before those of an extremely ill child.”

The kits will be issued in all Scots jails. They contain citric acid to sterilise needles, a skin swab and a spoon for heating heroin. The Scottish Prison Service said: “The trial has reduced the spread of blood-borne viruses.”

Greater Glasgow & Argyll NHS said: “We will be speaking to Anton’s family. Their equipment is not the same as an intravenous syringe. Theirs is reuseable device to deliver oral medication. They should only used for 10 days at a time and can be cleaned with simple washing. They should not be used longer than that. We’ll contact the family to ensure they understand this.”