Priest Calls For Drug Treatment Overhaul

DRUG treatment needs to be overhauled for East Lancashire to beat the
problems of addiction, a leader campaigner has warned.

Father Jim McCartney, chief executive of drug treatment charity
Thomas, has called for an end to prescriptions for methadone and other
replacement drugs, which he said did nothing to help user beat their
addictions.

And he attacked targets in the public sector which he said amounted to
"ticking boxes" and left people addicted to prescribed medication,
instead of getting to the root cause of problems. advertisement

In response, a boss of the Lancashire Drug Action Team, a multi-agency
group which co-ordinates drug treatment across the county, said they
were planning to expand its services to include more non-medication
treatments - although methadone would still be offered as an option to
hundreds of addicts.

Blackburn-based THOMAS, which stands for Those On the Margins of A
Society, tackles drug use with a 12-week programme of rehabilitation,
followed by long-term after care, all without any medication.

Father McCartney said: "I have concerns that in East Lancashire we are
keeping too many drug users on prescribed medication, still confining
people to a live of addiction.

"Often what you find is that people have a foot in treatment and a
foot in crime.

"The clinical concept of drug treatment is too dominant in this area
and it needs to be challenged."

The charity is set to open a new rehabilitation unit in Witton,
Blackburn, this year, where volunteers will work to change perceptions
of drug users and travel around Lancashire with the therapeutic team.

A 38-year-old former heroin addict from Blackburn, who asked not to be
identified, went through constant methadone programmes in 20 years of
addiction before he began the programme at THOMAS. He has now been
drug-free for three years and works for the charity, offering help and
advice to addicts going through rehabilitation.

He said: "The government provides maintenance prescriptions for
methadone because as far as they are concerned they help bring down
the crime rate and they work, but at the end of the day that stuff is
poison and the detox from methadone is worse than coming off heroin,
so it just creates a new dependence. "

Susie Renshaw, head of operations at the Lancashire Drug Action Team,
said: "We have just completed a new needs assessment and there will be
a lot of changes to the service we offer over the next few months.

"Some drug users do still want prescription treatment but there are
many other options available, with structured day care, sport and
exercise and even aromatherapy to help people find a life beyond drugs.

"It's all about making a wide range of treatments as accessible as
possible."