Pubdate: Sun, 18 Jun 2006
Source: Sunday Mail (UK)
Copyright: 2006 Daily Record and Sunday Mail Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2260
Author: David Taylor
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)

ADDICTS' SECRET TRADE IN LETHAL METHADONE

We Uncover The Scandal Of Saturday Drug Scripts

Junkies Sell Free NHS Drug For Ukp10 A Bottle To Feed Their Heroin Habit

ADDICTS are funding their heroin habit by selling the methadone they 
get free on the NHS.

The Sunday Mail uncovered the junkies' illicit trade in the week a 
seven-year-old boy overdosed at school on the heroin substitute.

Addicts are prescribed methadone free of charge to wean them off 
their heroin habit. But some sell on the bottles and use the cash to 
buy UKP10 bags of heroin. The sinister racket means that taxpapers 
who fund the methadone through the NHS are effectively buying heroin.

Junkie Denise McDonald is one of scores of addicts who sell their 
methadone for UKP10 per 95ml bottle.

The scam is known as "Saturday scripts" because they sell the 
prescriptions given to them to last the weekend.
Crucially, unlike weekday doses, the methadone does not have to be 
drunk in front of the pharmacist who has dispensed it.

Last night, politicians called for an urgent review of Scotland's 
methadone policy.

The revelations of the junkies' trade comes as concern grows about 
the heroin substitute. In a number of high-profile cases, children 
have died or been taken ill after drinking the drug.

And experts fear such cases will become more common with more 
methadone being peddled illegally.

A Sunday Mail reporter watched 35-year-old McDonald - a mum of one - 
pick up her methadone prescription at the Cessnock Pharmacy on 
Glasgow's Paisley Road West. After she picked up the 95ml bottle, 
which costs the NHS UKP5.33, she waited outside the pharmacy, where 
our reporter approached her. McDonald, of Ibrox, Glasgow, said: "I've 
got it right here. It's a bit risky with so many cops driving about."

When our man produced a UKP10 note, she ushered him down a side 
street and handed over the bottle of methadone. It was still in the 
chemist's paper bag and had a sticky label with her name on it. She 
was happy to sell it to a complete stranger and said: "I sell it 
whenever I can because I'd rather have heroin. It is as simple as that."

Methadone is saleable because its effects in stopping withdrawal last 
much longer than a "tenner bag" of heroin.  But some junkies would 
rather sell because they prefer heroin to methadone - which does not 
have the same euphoric "rush" effect -in any quantity.

A former addict said: "If an addict took a tenner bag of heroin, the 
effects would soon wear off and they would need to get another fix.

"But if they take enough methadone, it can last them through to the next day."

Scots doctors prescribed 300,000 litres of methadone last year - 50 
per cent more than Department of Health guidelines for the number of addicts.

NHS figures show there are more than 20,000 registered addicts on 
methadone in Scotland. They receive 300million millilitres of the 
drug a year, costing more than UKP16million.

Professor Rowdy Yates, director of the Scottish Addiction Studies 
Department at Stirling University, said: "Methadone has a longer 
half-life than heroin and that is why it is used. If doctors were 
prescribing heroin, addicts would need to have three or four "hits" every day.

"The effects of methadone last longer and that is why it is used."

With the huge amounts of methadone dispensed in Scotland there is 
going to be some leakage on to the grey market and it is almost 
inevitable some children will get access to it."

He added: "It would be in every-one's interest to have it prescribed 
under supervision but economically it is a non-starter. One of the 
problems is that substitute prescribing is the dominant treatment."

Across Europe, around half a million people are being treated for 
heroin addiction.

"At least 80 per cent are using methadone. It is very extensive."

Detective Superintendent Gillian Wood, of the Scottish Drugs 
Enforcement Agency, said: "We are aware of methadone being sold on 
the illicit market. Dealers who sell methadone usually do it to get 
money for their next heroin fix and people who buy methadone are 
looking for the obvious effects of the opiate."

In areas where there is supervised consumption, then the cases of 
methadone being sold illegally are fewer.

"But in some areas, supervision is not a practical or reasonable option."

The risks involved with methadone being sold are the same as any 
situation when someone is buying and using a drug which isn't 
prescribed to them."

East Lothian MSP John Home Robertson said: "There needs to be a 
massive overhaul of the whole system of prescribing methadone, which 
I understand the Executive is looking at just now.

"It is a massive problem which needs to be addressed and the sooner the better.

"The stuff is being prescribed in significant quantities, people are 
taking it home and we know people are dying as a result.

"The prescribing of methadone has to be far more secure. It should be 
prescribed and taken in secure premises."

The Labour MSP added: "It is illegal to sell methadone, but my 
concern is that there is too much methadone available."

In March, the Sunday Mail revealed how toddler Derek Doran died after 
drinking methadone. The toddler was found dead in his bed by his 
mother, Lisa Dodds, 25, at their East Lothian home. She and partner 
Derek Doran Snr, 21, appeared in court earlier this month charged 
with his murder.

And on January 29 we revealed how a girl, aged 11, was hooked on 
heroin and collapsed in a primary class and teachers had to call 999 for help.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman