HEROIN SUBSTITUTE SOLD BY DOCTOR KILLED DRUG ADDICT

Tougher measures to curb the prescription of methadone by private doctors
was urged yesterday following fresh concerns at the rising death toll among
addicts using the drug.

A leading coroner called on Jack Straw, the Home Secretary, to set up an
inquiry into the apparent easy availability of methadone, used as a
supposedly less dangerous substitute for heroin. This followed the latest
methadone fatality - a 41-year-old woman from Chelsea, south-west London,
who had been paying £30 a week for her drugs from a private doctor.

The number of deaths among notified addicts caused by over-dosing on
methadone rose in England and Wales to 116 in 1995 from 74 in 1993; it now
makes up about one-fifth of all fatal overdoses among registered addicts.
The number of methadone notified addicts dying from poisoning increased to
154 in 1995, also a record total. About 14,000 people in England and Wales
were registered as methadone addicts in 1996.

Last year, methadone killed three times as many people in Scotland as
heroin - 91 people died from the drug as opposed to 31 heroin deaths.

A Department of Health working group is looking into the issue of how best
to help people withdraw from heroin use, which includes the issue of
methadone. There is evidence, backed by recent Home Office research, of a
flourishing black-market in methadone often linked to lax prescribing
practices.

Dr Paul Knapman, the Westminster coroner, yesterday expressed his worries
about the availability of the drug after hearing how Stephanie Jean Lea,
41, died after overdosing on methadone last February. Dr Knapman recorded a
verdict of death by methadone intoxication caused by drug dependency.

The inquest at Westminster coroner's court was told that Mrs Lea paid a
weekly sum of £30 to her private doctor in exchange for a cocktail of
drugs, before she was struck off last November. Reading a statement from an
earlier hearing by Mrs Lea's husband, Dr Knapman said: "Mr Lea says it is
simple. He suggests that if you have the money then you can get drugs. He
says it is like a business transaction that doctors know about."

But Mrs Lea's former doctor, Dr Tom Onen, described her as a "chronic drug
addict" and blamed the increase in methadone deaths on lack of funding
which meant inadequate services.

After the inquest, Dr Knapman disclosed that he had written to the Home
Secretary last month voicing his concerns about methadone prescriptions.

His letter said: "I hope that you may consider a review of the present
situation whereby any doctor may prescribe injectable methadone privately
to any patient, and to consider a review of monitoring procedures with a
view to possible regulation."

Methadone-related deaths are frequently linked to a thriving black market
where it is sold as a cut-price fix. Drug dealers posing as heroin addicts
defraud the health service of hundred of thousands of pounds a year, duping
gullible clinics and GPs into giving them the liquid drug and then selling
it on at prices way below those commanded for other class A drugs.

According to Home Office officials and medical experts, many doctors'
surgeries are targeted by dealers who see them as a "soft touch".