DOCTORS OPPOSE MORE HEROIN PRESCRIPTION

GPs are against the idea of widening the availability of heroin on
prescription GPs are opposing calls to widen the prescribing of heroin to
addicts, fearing it could create "addicts for life".

Home Secretary David Blunkett announced in October that the Home Office and
Department of Health would draw up new guidelines for supplying heroin on
prescription to addicts.

The idea has gained also favour amongst some senior police officers, who
believe it could reduce the amount of drug-related crime.

But the Royal College of General Practitioners told a session of the home
affairs select committee on Tuesday that it is against the idea.

Doctors' reluctance to prescribe heroin is emphasised by the findings of a
survey by Imperial College in London.

It found that fewer than half of those entitled to hold a licence to
administer the drug had applied for one.

The survey also found that the Home Office list of prescribers was
inaccurate. Many who supposely had licences did not, others could not be
traced.

Police backing

At the moment, around 300 addicts around the country are prescribed heroin.

Some senior police officers have called for the scheme to be widened.

Last week, Chief Superintendent John Issac of Devon and Cornwall Police
told BBC's Newsnight: "There will always be a debate among the medical
profession about the ethics of prescribing heroin.

"But from a police officer's point of view, I have to say that if it
reduces crime, reduces the number of victims, that has to be a very serious
consideration. And I would support it."

The Association of Chief Police Officers said the area was "something it
was looking at".

But the RCGP said it was concerned about spending up to ?15,000 per year
funding heroin prescriptions for a user, money it said could be better
spent in improving treatment programmes to help addicts stop taking drugs
altogether.

Dr Claire Gerada, a south London GP who has run a clinic for drugs misusers
for the last 10 years, will attend the session on the college's behalf.

She told BBC News Online she was worried that decisions about treatment
were being considered without the input of doctors.

"My fundamental concern is that we would be running the risk of creating
addicts for life," she said.

'Pie-in-the-sky'

She added that increased prescription of heroin would not be the solution
for the drugs misusers.

"We would not be getting to the route of the problem. We would just be
colluding with them."

Dr Gerada added that there was no need to increase the amount of heroin
prescribed when methadone, the heroin substitute, was effective and a fifth
of the cost of heroin.

The British Medical Association (BMA) backed the RCGP.

Dr Rob Barnett, a Liverpool GP and member of the BMA's GPs committee, said:
"We have enough problems encouraging GPs to prescribe methadone. Going down
the route of telling them to prescribe heroin is pie-in-the-sky."

Christine Glover, past president of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of
Great Britain, also attended the select committee hearing.

She said pharmacists' main concern was addressing problems which arise out
of the current methadone prescribing procedures.

She told BBC News Online she believed GPs should be able to prescribe
heroin, as long as they had adequate training and support.

"We have to recognise that there will be a cohort who will always be
addicts and that's probably the right cohort for this measure."

Training call

Dr Andrew Thompson, the NHS Alliance's special adviser on drug misuse, told
the committee that GPs and pharmacists need more training, resources and
support to deal with the growing demands of treating drug addicts.

He said the problems of drug misuse and addiction were exacting an
increasing toll on GPs.

"Addiction services have been traditionally an under-resourced area of an
under-resourced speciality, psychiatry, and the users on the waiting lists,
six months or more in places, are either left without a service, or are
prescribed for by a few willing GPs with little training, and no resource
or remuneration for this."

The select committee session is part of a long term inquiry into the
effectiveness of the government's drug policy.

The inquiry is due to end in February, with a report expected in the Spring.

The Home Office has convened a meeting of experts to take place in
February, which will update national guidance in a bid to minimise
variations in practice around the country.