DRUGS PROGRAMME AT CRISIS POINT

Scotland's flagship methadone programme is at crisis point, a BBC
investigation has found. The number of heroin addicts on methadone in
Glasgow has quadrupled in six years.

The programme is now full up - but the health board and local council are
divided over what should be done next.

In 1994, there were around 1,000 heroin addicts in Glasgow getting a daily
dose of methadone.

That figure has now risen to around 4,000

The treatment for heroin addiction is dispensed from local pharmacies under
strict supervision.

The programme is a joint initiative between Greater Glasgow Health Board
and Glasgow City Council.

But council leaders are now concerned that the programme has mushroomed
without many addicts becoming drug free.

"I think people took their eye off the ball," said Councillor Jim Coleman.

"It is now widespread across the city. It has not achieved what it set out
to achieve. It's not giving addicts an alternative."

The council and health board are conducting a review to consider those
concerns, along with complaints about the numbers of addicts attending
certain pharmacies.

But Dr Tom Gilhooley, of the Glasgow Methadone Programme, believes more
people should be encouraged to enter the scheme.

Benefiting Addicts

"What we need to do is get them on the programme and retain them on it," he
said.

"Once on it, they will commit less crime, and are far less likely to die or
end up in prison. The nature of the treatment is that people do not come
off it very often."

Dr Laurence Gruer of Greater Glasgow Health Board said as many as 3,000
more addicts could benefit from the programme.

Alex Meikle of the West of Scotland Drugs Forum told BBC Newsnight Scotland
that methadone was the first step for addicts in their bid to return to
society.

And Deputy Justice Minister Iain Gray said: "I think many people have come
off methadone successfully."

The review will consider whether the programme is actually benefiting
addicts or increasing the strain on already scarce resources.