National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse wants open-ended heroin substitute use ended
Strict limits on how long drug addicts are allowed to stay on heroin substitute methadone have been proposed by the government body responsible for treatment strategy, in what will be seen as a watershed in UK drugs policy.
The National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA) is describing the move as a rebalancing of the system in favour of doing more to get addicts clean.
But cynics will regard the shift by the NTA, which has faced criticism and calls for it to be scrapped, as a late attempt to save itself before the coalition review of arm's-length government bodies.
Martin Barnes, the chief executive of the DrugScope charity, which represents 700 local drugs agencies, said: "A goal of avoiding open-ended prescribing through improved practice is not the same as, and should not be confused with, the setting of time limits."
An estimated 330,000 people in England and Wales are addicted to heroin, crack cocaine or both. More than 200,000 are in contact with treatment agencies, but most are "maintained" on methadone or other synthetic opiates, at a cost of £300m a year, rather than pushed towards abstaining from all drugs, whether prescribed or illegal. Strict time limits on methadone treatment would require a big expansion of residential care for addicts.
The Guardian
