Pubdate: Sun, 19 Sep 2004
Source: Observer, The (UK)
Copyright: 2004 The Observer
Contact:  http://www.observer.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/315
Author: Martin Bright, home affairs editor The Observer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

HEROIN POLICY HAS FAILED, SAY CHARITIES

Government Plans To Let More Doctors Prescribe Drug Were 'Abandoned'

Drugs charities have accused the government of abandoning plans to set up a 
network of doctors prescribing pure heroin to addicts.

Two years ago, the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, announced that the 
number of licences issued to GPs entitled to prescribe heroin should be 
increased from less than 50 to 1,500 in an attempt to take the supply of 
the drug out of the hands of criminals.

The move was applauded by drugs organisations, which said the use of 
medical heroin - known as diamorphine - would help addicts control their 
chaotic lifestyle and stop them being sucked into crime to support their habit.

But new Home Office figures show that the number of prescribing doctors has 
barely doubled. The National Treatment Agency, the government body 
responsible for dealing with addiction, confirmed that, by March of this 
year, only 123 doctors were licenced to prescribe medical heroin.

The majority of Britain's GPs see at least one addict a month and a quarter 
treat heroin or cocaine addicts, but only a tiny minority are able to use 
heroin itself during treatment and most use the heroin substitute methadone.

The charity Drugscope said that the move towards prescribing heroin was 
derailed by the publicity surrounding Harold Shipman, the GP who murdered 
at least 215 of his patients using diamorphine. Shipman was jailed for life 
in 2000, but the inquiry into the case, led by Dame Janet Smith, has had a 
lasting impact on the medical profession.

Smith's fourth report, published in July, called for stricter controls to 
avoid the kind of stockpiling that allowed Shipman to build up his supply.

The debate over prescribing will be severely tested later this year by the 
investigation by the General Medical Council into seven doctors at the 
Stapleford clinic, a private treatment centre for addicts. The six men and 
one woman worked in centres in Belgravia, London and Stapleford Tawney, 
Essex and are charged with 'excessive and improper' prescribing.

The centre is alleged to have kept patients on lengthy courses of 
methadone, rather than cutting the supply sharply as recommended by NHS 
guide lines. The defendants include Dr Colin Brewer, the founder of the 
centre, who is recognised as an international expert in the field.

The plans to set up the network of prescribing GPs came after a Home 
Affairs Select Committee report found that drug misuse by Britain's 250,000 
heroin addicts was fuelling drug crime worth UKP20 billion a year. The 
committee also recommended establishing safe 'shooting galleries' for 
addicts. But these have also failed to take off after councils failed to 
persuade residents that they would encourage addicts off the streets.

Drugscope spokeswoman Natasha Vromen said: 'These figures are 
disappointing. There were great hopes that the government and doctors were 
developing a drugs policy where the health aspects were brought to the 
fore. Unfortunately, it is now dominated by the crime agenda.'
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager