Scottish Drugs Forum
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27th March 2006
From 28th March 2006, we will be based at 91 Mitchell Street, Glasgow G1 3LN.
Our telephone, fax systems and email addresses will remain the same although they will be non operational from 3pm on 27 March till 9am 30th March. Please note the server shutdown will also affect the e-mailing system (only) to our Edinburgh, Dundee, Lanarkshire and Highland offices.
However, for emergency administration and media enquiries only to the Glasgow office during this period please call: 07770 520947.
6 March 2006
METHADONE has an important role to play in the range of drug treatments in Scotland, according to Scottish Drugs Forum Director David Liddell.
He was speaking in the wake of the revelation by a Sunday newspaper that a two-year-old boy, Derek Doran (2), from East Lothian, had died after drinking methadone. His parents are reported to be methadone users and a police inquiry has been launched into the circumstances of the boy's death in December.
The case has prompted calls for a reform of methadone policy, including tighter controls for dispensing.
However, SDF Director David Liddell today warned that it would be a mistake to use this tragic case to justify wholesale condemnation of methadone as an option for treatment for appropriate patients.
He said:
"Methadone is – and only ever can be - part of the solution. It can only ever be truly successful when used as part of a comprehensive package of measures to help people overcome the traumatic experiences which often lie at the root of their drug use.
"Many people do benefit from the breathing space which methadone can offer in terms of letting them stabilise and regain control of their lives.
"Child protection issues arising from this case will, quite rightly, be examined – but in doing so we should also look closely at whether the current drug treatment system in Scotland allows methadone to do its work properly.
"The problem in Scotland is that the credibility of methadone as a viable treatment can be undermined by the failure to provide the essential support measures which make it work effectively as possible.
"If there are inadequate support services to deal with the emotional, psychological and social damage in people’s heads – and methadone alone is left to treat the “chemical” side of dependency - it is little wonder that methadone programmes do not fulfill their potential.
"Scottish Drugs Forum has consistently called for resources to be concentrated on providing intensive and wide-ranging help at a far, far earlier stage of the equation, when family difficulties are emerging.
"This would mean problems could be managed – maybe even overcome – before they become so entrenched that they lead to the kind of terrible consequences we have witnessed in recent cases.
"Of course, by focusing on whether methadone per se is a suitable drugs treatment diverts the public’s attention from the desperate need to provide the educational and training opportunities which would allow many drug users to move away from drugs full stop, whether illicit or on prescription.
"That’s not something we hear much about from the very people complaining about thousands being “parked” on “state-aided addiction”.