13,000 ADDICTS IN QUEUE FOR METHADONE PROGRAMMES

Four thousand drug addicts are on a methadone maintenance programme
while up to 13,000 others are waiting access to the programme, the
Dail heard yesterday.

Junior Minister with responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy
Team, Eoin Ryan, said while some people claim there are up to 13,000
addicts waiting for a methadone programme, ``nobody knows the exact
number''.

He said the only way it could be assessed is when sufficient services
are available to somebody seeking help who will then be given
immediate access to the services.

The minister said there are nearly 50 drug clinics throughout
Dublin.

Local resistance to the establishment of methadone maintenance clinics
had slowed down the process of providing them but he said ``resistance
is not as strong now''.

The minister said people realised that if they looked after local drug
addicts in their locality, it will not lead to the problems which
occurred in areas where huge numbers of addicts were being treated.
``There were problems outside large clinics.''

Deputy Pat Rabbitte, Labour, said the gap between the 4,000 on
methadone programmes and 13,000 abusers in the city was ``enormous''
and he asked if the minister could offer hope to those areas ``which
through ignorance or otherwise, have resisted the installation of
community-based treatment clinics''.

Mr Ryan said the maintenance programme was a first step and ways of
moving people away from methadone to a drug-free life needed to be
examined.

Deputy Joe Higgins, Socialist Party, said urgent measures were needed
to ensure there are enough doctors trained in heroin addiction treatment.

He said there was also a problem with community pharmacists and a
reluctance on the part of some of them in playing a full role in the
treatment of heroin addicts.

Referring to a study conducted by Michael Farrell in the National
Addiction Centre in London, the minister said it found that 40pc of
addicts on a maintenance programme were returning to work.

``There are positive signs and we should ensure that those positive
signs are sent out to addicts so that they will know, if they go on a
maintenance programme, there is light at the end of the tunnel.''

With regard to the doctors, he said it was causing a certain amount of
concern. ``There is a reluctance on the part of some doctors to deal
with people who are on a methadone maintenance programme for the
obvious reasons that they do not want them to be seen in their clinics
as it may deter other patients.'' The health board was trying to deal
with the issue.