Tight restrictions have been set in the first official guidance on prescription of injectable heroin and methadone for hard-core drug users. The potentially controversial guidance was issued by the national treatment agency (NTA) last Friday, as the government reshuffle dominated news agendas. But the guidelines - for specialist doctors - are worded with painstaking care and stress repeatedly the limited nature of their application. "The message for specialist clinicians is that, yes, injectable heroin and injectable methadone have a role to play in the treatment of drug misuse - but it's a limited role and one that needs to be developed very carefully," says John Strang, chair of the NTA's heroin expert group and head of the National Addiction Centre. [continues 316 words]
A charity has drawn up the first guide for children whose parents are drug users, in response to growing numbers of young people seeking help. The guide, which has been endorsed by Jack Straw, the home secretary, gives children basic information on drugs, advice on where to get support, and basic rules to follow in an emergency. It says: "If you find your mum or dad in a bad way - for example, if they're unconscious and you can't wake them or they're behaving strangely, and you think they may have taken drugs - it is very important to get help immediately." [continues 205 words]
A 13-year-old girl who died of methadone poisoning after drifting into a sordid world of drugs and prostitution had been shuttled among assorted carers 68 times in the course of her brief life, an inquiry yesterday revealed. Aliyah Ismail, who was found dead in a north London bedsit, had been failed by 10 state agencies that were supposed to have been helping her, the inquiry concluded. More than 230 professionals had at one stage or another been working with Aliyah and her family. Yet she was allowed to slip through the net amid confusion even about what her name was. [continues 531 words]
