ADDICTS 'USE PRESCRIPTIONS TO AVOID RISK OF STREET SUPPLIES'

Heroin addicts given prescribed drugs in efforts to help them kick the
habit just see it as a way of avoiding the risks of using street
supplies, research has revealed.

Rather than using injectable diamorphine and the heroin substitute
methadone as a way of reducing their habit, addicts said they saw it
as the best method of getting a pure supply, researchers found.

It also meant they were able to improve their relationships with
family and avoid trouble with police.

The findings, published in the journal Addiction, may disappoint
doctors and campaigners who believe the prescriptions are a way of
weaning addicts off more hazardous substances for good.

Researchers studied 104 addicts prescribed diamorphine - heroin -- and
methadone.

Lead author Dr Louise Sell said: "One of the most striking findings of
the study was that 74% of patients said that procuring a drug supply
of known dose and purity, improving family relationships and avoiding
trouble with the police were the three key reasons for seeking a
prescription of injectable opiates."

Dr Sell said only 20% of users saw prescribed injecting as a way of
reducing drug use and quitting the habit.

Those patients on methadone were six times more likely to report that
they were gradually stopping injecting - 24% compared to 4% on
diamorphine.

The Home Office called for the expansion of diamorphine prescribing in
2002 in a bid to reduce crime, and it can only be prescribed with a
licence from the department.

In the study of patients attending a centre run by the Substance
Misuse Directorate of Bolton, Salford and Trafford Mental Health
Trust, 75% of people were on injectable methadone and 25% on
diamorphine.

Co-author Dr Deborah Zador said diamorphine, also used in the NHS to
provide high levels of pain control, was not considered for all
addicts because it was more expensive than methadone, less researched
and harder to monitor.

"However it may prove the best option for opiate addicts who have not
responded well to other treatment.

"For example they may have continued to inject heroin even while using
the optimum prescribed levels of oral methadone, which is very risky,
both physically and psychologically," Dr Zador said.