Is methadone being over-prescribed as a treatment for drug addiction?
Why are we asking this now? A dispute has erupted over the treatment of drug addicts in prisons. According to the former government drugs tsar, Mike Trace, the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Health are battling to impose their differing approaches. The Ministry of Justice is said to favour pushing addicts towards abstinence, while the Department of Health is understood to back the “maintenance” prescribing of methadone to keep addicts stable. Isn’t this a long-running argument? Yes. The debate over the best way to manage drug addicts has been going on for decades. There are an estimated 330,000 drug users in the UK, most taking heroin and crack cocaine, of whom 180,000 receive treatment each year and 2,500 die. Drug addicts commit three-quarters of all acquisitive crime in the UK, official figures show. In addition to the crime they commit and the damage they do to themselves, they cause harm to their immediate family and friends as a result of their chaotic lives. So what’s
