Pubdate: Sat, 13 Dec 2008
Source: Sunday Herald, The (UK)
Copyright: 2008 Sunday Herald
Contact:  http://www.sundayherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/873
Author: Tom Gordon, Scottish Political Editor
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

METHADONE 'FAILING TO CUT CRIMINALITY'

Study Prompts Call To Overhaul Treatment For Addicts

MINISTERS ARE being urged to overhaul Scotland's methadoneprogrammeafter 
new state-funded research showed that giving addicts the heroin substitute 
failed to cut crime.

The Glasgow University study also found prescribing methadone did not 
increase the chances of addicts becoming drug-free. Its sole benefit was a 
drop in addicts "topping up" with heroin.

The Conservatives seized on the paper, which was co-authored by Scotland's 
leading authority on addiction, Professor Neil McKeganey, of Glasgow's 
Centre for Drug Misuse and Research.
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An estimated 22,000 people receive methadone in Scotland, more than 90% of 
all heroin addicts, and NHS spending on the drug has more than doubled in 
five years. Last year, purchase and dispensing costs rose 19% to UKP25.7 
million.

The average heroin addict, meanwhile, steals around UKP50,000 of property 
each year to feed their habit.

There is also concern the programme merely replaces one addictive drug with 
another, and that people are "parked" on methadone for years with little 
prospect of abstinence. Recent research found only 3% of those treated with 
methadone had become drug-free after three years.

The new study compared the outcome for 68 addicts who started methadone 
treatment, 46 of whom stayed with it over 33 months, and 364 addicts 
receiving other forms of treatment outside prison, such as counselling, 
residential rehab, and detoxification programmes.

It found prescribing methadone was no better than other treatments at 
cutting "acquisitive crime", such as "drug dealing, housebreaking, 
shoplifting and thefts from persons". Even giving high doses of the drug 
failed to reduce crime.

It reported: "Those still on methadone maintenance were not more likely to 
have reduced their criminality (measured by the number of days on which 
they committed acquisitive crimes in the previous three months) compared 
with the rest of the sample."

The study also found "no significant difference between the 
methadone-maintainedsampleand other interviewees in their propensity to 
abstain from heroin use, nor was there any difference between the two 
groups in the mean reduction over time in their self-reported dependence on 
drugs".

McKeganey told the Sunday Herald the research debunked the claim by 
methadone advocates that it helped cut crime. "It's frequently said that 
methadone is a way of reducing criminality, but the research did not find 
that at all.

"The problem with methadone is that it has overwhelmed the other available 
treatments. We have been very good at pulling large numbers of drug users 
into the methadone programme without being clear about the benefits."

"If you asked me the most successful way of reducing criminality in 
Scotland, my answer would be getting on top of our drug problem," he added. 
"The government's new drugs strategy promises a focus on recovery - that 
has to mean people coming off methadone."

Scottish Tory leader Annabel Goldie said: "I have never disputed that 
methadone has a part to play in providing a bridge for some addicts between 
dependency and recovery, but this new analysis shatters one of the alleged 
benefits of a widespread methadone harm-reduction programme - namely less 
crime committed by addicts.

"This is another wake-up call to those who insist the wholesale parking of 
addicts on a legal drug is preferable to leaving them on an illegal one. 
This is more evidence which backs up our insistence that Scotland needs a 
new drugs strategy, based on recovery leading to abstinence. Methadone 
alone is nowhere near good enough."

A Scottish government spokesman said: "Our national drugs strategy, 
unanimously endorsed by the parliament in June, was clear that recovery 
must be the focus of all drug treatment and rehabilitation services.

"Evidence shows methadone can help stabilise those at risk of falling back 
into chaotic lifestyles and that it is both valuable and necessary. The 
drugs strategy recognises the need to help people move on from methadone 
through other treatments. Different people with different circumstances 
inevitably means different routes to recovery." 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D