Date: Sat, 15 Jul 1995 11:53:12 -0700
From: [b--rd--n] at [netcom.com] (David Borden)
Subject: In Memoriam: Bing Spear
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A Special Announcement from the Drug Policy Foundation
brought to you online by the
Foundation for Drug Policy Awareness
and
Drug Reform Coordination Network (DRCNet)
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Bing Spear: The Passing of A Legend
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by Arnold Trebach
President, Drug Policy Foundation
By now many of you have heard the sad news of the death of
H.B. Spear. He died on July 9th at the age of 67. I wanted to
make sure you did know of his passing, to relate a bit of his
wonderful story, and to ask help in keeping alive the ideas he
lived for.
For over a quarter century Bing Spear was the compassionate
heart and soul of British drug control policy. He was an
Inspector in the Drugs Branch of the Home Office and eventually
rose to the rank of Chief Inspector, a post from which he retired
in 1986. During my many visits to his office, my meanderings
amongst the drug scenes of England, and in the course of lectures
he made to my seminars in England, I saw that he believed in drug
control with a sense of humanity and compassion. He was my mentor
and my inspiration for writing about drugs in the United Kingdom.
As the top British national official expert on drug control,
he served as a kindly and intelligent bridge between front line
police and street addicts. Indeed, all came to him for advice.
It was a startling vision for my American eyes to see the good
friends he brought to several of my London seminars: long-time
injecting heroin addicts. For a time Bing knew most of the
established drug addicts in the London area.
It would be a sign from heaven if using addicts believed
that they could go to the head of DEA or FDA to get friendly
advice -- and even the name of a doctor who might prescribe
injectable drugs to maintain their addictions within the law.
(See the postscript for more on this subject.)
We at The Drug Policy Foundation established an award in his
name in 1988. The H.B. Spear Award for Achievement in the Field
of Control and Enforcement honors "all those involved in drug
control and enforcement whose activities have demonstrated a
balanced regard for the needs of enforcement and also of the
requirement for human compassion." When I wrote him of our
decision to set up the award and asked him for his permission, he
replied with characteristic modesty that he really did not
deserve such recognition, that all he had been doing was "keeping
my bureaucratic nose clean for 34 years." He added, "I have
merely been the custodian of the Rolleston tradition." All of us
are better off because of the work of this mere custodian.
Expressions of sympathy may be addressed to his family at 1,
Whiterock Terrace, Wadebridge, Cornwall, PL27 7EG, UK. Bing
suffered from kidney disease. His son, Jonathan, mentioned that
he would be pleased if those so inclined made a donation in his
honor to a local or national kidney foundation.
During the next few weeks, I intend to write a longer
appreciation of this wonderful human being and good friend. I
intend to emphasize one of his favorite themes: how American
experts and officials constantly have distorted the manner in
which the British system of drug control and treatment works. I
would appreciate hearing from anyone with such information and
also with anecdotes on Bing's work and life.
Send them to my Compuserve address -- 102143,2571 -- or by
snail mail to DPF, Suite B-500, 4455 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20008-2302.
Thanks so much,
Arnold Trebach
P.S. I personally saw that the following description of Bing was
quite accurate. It is a quote from page 27 of the classic book
by Horace Freeland Judson, "Heroin Addiction in Britain: What
Americans Can Learn from the English Experience," Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich: New York and London, 1973, 1974.
"Outside the Home Office, Spear is described as the man
who for nearly two decades carried his own index in his
head; even in the late `60s, when addiction was rising
rapidly, he knew the addicts so well, I was told, that
when a doctor with a new case telephoned him, Spear would
listen to the physical description, ask a couple of
questions, and identify the addict, giving his real name,
his previous physician, the size of his usual prescrip-
tion, the particular group of addicts he belonged to,
where he lived, and, often, the girl he was living with
and the person who had given him his first shot of
heroin. What was even more remarkable, addicts looked on
the Home Office as friend, confidant, and ally, turning
to the Drugs Branch when they were in trouble with the
police or at work, say, or for help when they were
defeated by the social-welfare bureaucracy -- or simply
to find a pharmacist outside London where prescriptions
could be cashed on a holiday. The strict American
parallel would be a Washington addict's coming in off the
street to ask one of the assistant directors of the Drug
Enforcement Administration (latest reorganization of the
Bureau of Narcotics) for help in dealing with the
landlord. The increased number of addicts in England
today and the development of the clinics make this kind
of individual contact less easy and less necessary; yet
it still happens, and English addicts, though they
dislike and distrust the police nearly as much as addicts
anywhere -- for one thing, British laws against marijuana
are toughly enforced -- still regard the Home Office
Drugs Branch highly."
- end -
[Note: DRCNet is receiving funding and office space from the Drug
Policy Foundation, but is a separate organization. DRCNet postings
in general should not be taken as indicative of DPF policy.]
Foundation for Drug Policy Awareness / Drug Reform Coordination Network
4455 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite B-500, Washington, DC 20008-2302
Phone: (202) 362-0030 / Fax: (202) 362-0032 / email: [d r cinfo] at [drcnet.org]
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