EHB GIVES ADDICTS FALSE HOPE: PRIEST

The Eastern Health Board is using methadone to provide a false
solution to the problem of drug addiction, a priest who works with
homeless young people has claimed.

Father Peter McVerry, of the Arrupe Society for homeless young people,
said that claims by the board that some clinics are reporting up to
40% of people returning to work, following rehabilitation, were
misleading. He made his comments in the wake of an independent review
of the board’s anti heroin programmes which found a 70% reduction in
heroin consumption among those attending the clinics.

"They seem to be using methadone as a permanent solution to a drug
problem," he said. "They seem quite prepared to fund a life long
methadone supply for a heroin addict but that does not equate with a
cure.

"Methadone should only be a temporary solution on the path to total
abstinence and the fact that there are about 30 beds for approximately
12,000 heroin addicts in Dublin, speaks volumes."

Fr McVerry also said the majority of homeless young people seen by the
Arrupe centre become involved in some form of drug abuse.

The report of an independent consultant, commissioned by the EHB to
review it’s drug prevention and treatment services was published yesterday.

The review, carried out by Dr Michael Farrell, a UK based addiction
expert, found the services to be among the most innovative in Europe.

Dr Farrell said that as a result of reductions in criminal behaviour,
the criminal justice system was now achieving savings of around pounds
5.2 million which could now be put back into treatment programmes.

Speaking at the launch of the EHB’s Drugs Services External Review in
Dublin, Junior Local Development Minister Eoin Ryan said the figures
showed the immense benefits provided by the clinics.