Even at the lower end of Public Health England's 2016 estimate, £8.5bn nowhere near covers it.

No argument there. However my initial post was in response to how much drinking and smoking cost the NHS (not the entire economy) versus illegal drug use. We get nothing back from junkies and there seems to be nothing but sympathy for them. Why are drinkers and smokers seen as pariahs but habitual drug users seen as people deserving of our pity. We get nada,zilch,zero back from them and how much do they cost the NHS/economy?

chuck policing, court and prison costs in too.

but as you say, sticking powder up your nose every weekend is acceptable, apparently.

Odd how desperately in some situations you Tories want to insert the government into every aspect of people's private lives.

You tories? On another thread you said you have voted for them. You weren't fibbing were you?

I see we had another Donald Trump play by Johnson in trying to divert attention from his NHS views to suddenly suggesting that the BBC license fee could be scrapped. It had not been mentioned before nor in his manifesto.

I bet the Health Minister was overjoyed about having to shoot up to Leeds double pronto to mop up after his leader.
I wonder how long it took Boris to get potty trained or whether his nanny was still having to wipe his @rse when he was attending Eton?

I voted for them in 1997, 2001, 2005 and 2010. My parents were Conservative members in Leeds North West back when it was a safe Tory seat so I spent a bit of time as a kid waiting around party events. That constituency is a no-go area for Conservatives nowadays but where I live now is rather more marginal.

But under Major, and even Hague and Howard it was a different party to what we've seen the past six months. Our one time MP Keith Hampson would have been drummed out of the party like Ken Clarke and the rest.

You mean the married Keith Hampson that was caught in a gay strip joint in Soho manhandling the merchandise - he deserved drumming out of the party.

That's his job - shame Labour have to resort to this kind of action - anybody who has ever taken a child that is seriously ill into A&E knows they will get priority. There was a perfectly usable trolley the boy could have been laid on not 2 metres away. This was done for effect, which parent in their right mind would put their child on the floor, take a picture and sell it to a newspaper? What does it say to the hard working staff on the day who have given the illness the priority their professional training/experience suggests when compared to other cases? No wonder the family don't want to any further news coverage - disgusting and they should be ashamed of the what they are suggesting are the competences of the hard working staff at LGI.

Bloody hell Sal, you're very quick to defend ANYTHING that happens on the Tory watch and yet, you back a party that has created fake twitter accounts to back up Tory lies - get a grip man
Although it wasn't in a hospital, you will no doubt have seen the Tory MP, who inadvertently left his mike switched on as he was "grooming" a regular punter into saying what was required.
The hospital haven't said that this story was faked, the denials have all come from "someone" who has a "friend" that works there.
The lies appear to have come from friends of the Tory's, desperate to rubbish the story - maybe someone like you ?
Also worth noting that, the family have been full of praise for the hospital staff and this doesnt reflect on them in any way.

rlhttps://www.leeds-live.co.uk/news/leeds-news/lgi-bosses-apologise-after-four-17385357rl

NEVER MIND THE BOY ON THE FLOOR - A LABOUR THUG PUNCHED MATT HANCOCK'S LARYNX OUT!*

















*this is a dead cat

Which "users" are you referring to that "stick powder up their nose "every weekend" ?
Celebrities, pop stars, the very well off or maybe it's just the "street users", most of whom are probably using different substances, altogether.