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Injecting Clinics For Heroin Addicts |
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Written by Dr Margaret
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Feb 25, 2008 at 04:31 AM |
A two year pilot sudy with supervised injecting clinics in London, Brighton and Darlingtonhave been operating for 2 years and preliminary results show a reduction in drug use and drug-related crime. | | The study, which has cost £2.5m, has been funded by both the Home Office and the Department of Health. During the trial, a third of addicts are using heroin substitute methadone orally whilst a third inject methadone under supervision. The remaining third, observed by nurses, are injecting themselves with unadulterated heroin imported from Switzerland by the clinic. Aproximately 150 users will be taking part in the trial. Medical staff involved in the trial have reported favourable results amongst participants, but final figures will not be published until the trial is completed.The impact upon the lives of those on the scheme appeared tohave stabilised because they are not buying from street dealers and resorting to crime. Professor John Strang, of the National Addiction Centre, at London's Institute of Psychiatry, told BBC News that about 40% of users had "quit their involvement with the street scene completely". "Of those who have continued, which obviously is a disappointment, it goes down from every day to about four days per month," he added. "Their crimes, for example, have gone from 40 a month to perhaps four crimes per month. "The reduction in crime is not perfect but is a great deal better for them and crucially a great deal better for society." People on the trial also attend regular counselling sessions and regular appointments with their GP. BBC correspondent Danny Shaw reported initial results reflected the experiment was having a profound effect on hardened heroin addicts. Many were leading much more stable lives. with better family relationships because they were no longer in the corrective system which generally has a negative impact on their already poor social situation, the correspondent added. He said that, although these were very early days, there had been a dramatic effect on the lives of people for whom heroin had been a daily part of their lives for 20 or 30 years. The cost of the treatment, including providing heroin, is between £9,000 and £15,000 per patient - about three times as much as a year's course of methadone. If one considers the cost to society of untreated heroin addiction through crime and full-time custodial care whilst in the penal system, the cost does not seem to be of that great a magnitude..Similar heroin injection schemes in Holland and Switzerland have reported some users turning away from crime |
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Last Updated ( Feb 29, 2008 at 09:42 AM )
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Controversial Medical Issues 