'TIME TO DECLARE WAR' ON OVER-PRESCRIBING

The Department of Health and the Irish Medical Council must adopt a
stronger line on irresponsible prescribing of tranquillisers by GPs to
patients who are recovering from drug addiction. That is the view of
the national GP coordinator, Dr Ide Delargy, who addressed the conference.

Speaking on the topic "Ireland: The Way Forward", Dr Delargy stressed that
one of the most important steps which had to be taken now was to stop
benzodiazepine prescribing, the prescribing of sleeping pills and other
tranquillisers.

She said these drugs needed to be used with extreme caution where drug
addicts were concerned. "They should not be given without proper
medical assessment from a person experienced in addiction. This is
because the potential for abuse with them and the potential for
destabilising a patient who is on methadone is enormous," she said.

"It is time to declare war on these drugs," she added. "I believe it
is indefensible for some of our colleagues to keep prescribing them to
addicts, sometimes for financial gain".

Dr Delargy urged the Department of Health and the Irish Medical
Council to take a stronger stand on irresponsible prescribing. "It's a
big scourge for those involved in methadone treatment," she said.

The national GP co-ordinator also pointed out that there were no
really safe and effective plans in place for the management of addicts
in Garda custody and she urged the Department of Justice to work with
the medical sector to bridge this gap.

Looking to the future, it was essential also to work on the attitudes
of doctors and nurses towards abusers. Addicts were frequently treated
in an inhumane way in hospital accident and emergency departments, she
said.

Dr Delargy pointed out that 140 GPs were now involved in treating
addicts at local level in the Eastern Health Board area, but she urged
more to become involved as many addicts did not have a GP and found it
difficult to access one.

She said a survey of the GPs treating addicts revealed very high
satisfaction rates, and 85 per cent said they were more willing to
take patients since the introduction of a new methadone treatment
protocol last year.

Under this arrangement each doctor now treats a maximum of 35 addicts
to prevent problems associated with large numbers of abusers
congregating at one location.

Dr Delargy also called at the weekend for better health education
programmes to prevent young people being drawn into the cycle of
abuse. "Some of our programmes are not very relevant, are dull and do
not start early enough," she complained.

She also said it was only a matter of time before other health boards
started to see more addicts and she urged them to develop appropriate
plans now to be prepared for the challenge.