Health experts to review methadone after 275 die

Reporter

Saturday 6 October 2012

A GOVERNMENT taskforce is to investigate the effectiveness of Scotland's £28 million methadone programme after the prescription medicine was linked to almost half of the country's drugs deaths.

harry BURNS: He will report to Holyrood on the future of methadone prescription.

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VICTORIA WELDON

Scotland's Chief Medical Officer Harry Burns will lead an expert group which will review the use of opiate replacement therapy by heroin addicts, and will make recommendations to Holyrood over the future of the scheme.

Critics have branded the prescription drug's role in weaning patients off heroin a human disaster and "legalised drug-taking on an industrial scale".It was involved in 275 deaths – 47% of all drugs deaths – last year, an increase of 101 on 2010. Heroin was linked to 35% of deaths.Mr Burns's criticism came as police spoke of their concern over the deaths of five men and women, mainly heroin addicts, in one week. Central Scotland Police said there was no obvious link between the deaths in Falkirk, Stirling and Clackmannanshire of addicts in their 30s and 40s, but drugs workers said there was currently a high risk of fatal overdose in the area.The Conservatives welcomed the methadone taskforce. Scottish Tory health spokesman and deputy leader Jackson Carlaw MSP said: "The methadone programme in Scotland has been an utter disaster, and now costs more lives than the drug it was supposed to help people off. A review of its use is long overdue, but the important thing is getting people to stop taking heroin, not simply finding a stop-gap."I hope as a result of this a more driven focus on abstinence-based treatment is considered, and it is important we don't come out the other end with even more replacement therapies which often don't help anyone, and cost the public purse millions."The Scottish Drug Forum (SDF) said a change of focus was needed.Director David Liddell said: "We need to have our best politicians thinking more deeply about why people use substances and what responses can be made. "This includes looking at people who are self-medicating for the effects of trauma and poor mental health and people whose lives have become intolerable to them. "We need also to increase the range and quality of opportunities open to people. "We need to focus less on the drug use and more on the individuals with problems. Problem drug-use does not emerge out of thin air."He added: "Methadone is merely a response to a large-scale problem and it does not seek to address the cause. "Politicians realise this fact in private but sadly their public utterances would sometimes suggest otherwise." Dr Burns and his team of experts will work in collaboration with the independent Scottish Drugs Strategy Delivery Commission, which is chaired by Dr Brian Kidd. They will gather evidence on the use of methadone and other opiate replacement programmes, which account for one-fifth of drug treatments in Scotland, before reporting to the Scottish Government in the new year. The Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs, Roseanna Cunningham, said it was clear that prescribed drug programmes should not be the only treatment available to addicts.Ms Cunningham said: "It is the responsibility of the professionals to determine the most appropriate treatment for each person seeking medical help with addiction problems. "People have a right to a full range of treatment and support options and to decide in consultation with professionals what is best for them. "We want to ensure our services in Scotland are as effective as we can make them."Meanwhile, Central Scotland Police Chief Superintendent David Flynn said he and other public agencies in the area were greatly concerned by the latest local drug deaths.At the same time public health experts warned about the dangers of using heroin alongside other drugs.Central Scotland Police said the deaths occurred "across the Falkirk, Stirling and Clackmannanshire council areas". Mr Flynn said those who died were all known drug addicts but there was no obvious link between the deaths.He added: "We are seeing the tragic deaths of men and women in their 30s and 40s, all with a history of drugs use – particularly heroin. "Each death is under investigation. However, they are not thought to be suspicious." The co-ordinator of the Forth Valley Alcohol and Drug Partnership, Elaine Lawlor, said: "Any drug mixed with alcohol or other drugs can have potentially fatal consequences. Family members and friends [of addicts] should be extra vigilant."The partnership says for reasons as yet unknown, the risk of users dying from a drug overdose in the area is now "very high".Drug users were warned not to abuse multiple substances and were urged to pick up a personal supply of Naloxone, a medication to reverse the effects of an opiate overdose. It comes in a pocket-sized kit and can be administered while waiting for an ambulance. The local health board said training was being made available for family members and friends of drug abusers on overdose prevention.

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Health experts to review methadone after 275 die

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