Scotland Methadone

Scotland Methadone

Why do they not decrease the dosage over a period of time to taper the prisoners off of the Methadone ? This should be a strong option that is discussed so not to leave the prisoners on Methadone indefinetely. Spending millions of dollars on them to remain on Methadone to a highly addictive dangerous drug is  outrageous !!!

Friday 28 June 2013



AS drug addict deaths continue to rise in Scotland questions will be asked as to the possible need for change in how Scotland is tacking its drug problem.















For decades the cornerstone of drug abuse treatment has been the provision of methadone on a long-term basis to addicts. That policy has been tenaciously adhered to even in the face of the year-on-year increase in the number of addicts dying, and in the proportion of those deaths linked to methadone.







For successive governments the belief has been that to shift from the policy of a national methadone programme is to invite further disaster. Perhaps consideration should be given to the situation in Baltimore in the US, which witnessed a 27% increase in addict deaths from 1995 to 1999 despite a 74% increase in the number of addicts being prescribed methadone. By contrast the number of addict deaths in Baltimore reduced by some 57% following the wider prescription of buprenorphine as an alternative.

Buprenorphine is a more costly drug than methadone, though why prescribers in Scotland persist in favouring a drug which appears to have been ineffective in reducing addict deaths, and which is itself associated with an increasing number of those deaths, is a legitimate question. There are many calls for drug treatment in Scotland to be based on the evidence of effectiveness. When will prescribers heed that advice and give greater consideration to an alternative medication that may stand a better chance of reducing the toll of drug-related deaths?

Neil McKeganey,

Director, Centre for Drug Misuse Research,

19 Keith Street, Glasgow.

When I first started going to the clinic the local prison was dosing prisoners on methadone. Then one day I come to the clinic and there's a sign up saying the prison won't dose prisoners anymore. I don't know what the reason is.

ive read about the concerns over methadone use in scotland. Its JUST AS BAD everywhere in Britain- its only that Scotland seems to be re-thinking their strategy. no one should be given methadone unless its in the form of a taper- alongside therapt- counseling and addiction work. heroin addiction needs a bucket load of cash chucked at it and the use of methadone is just like pouring gas over a fire. Its actually abusive and harmful treatment to the addict. Through the use of methadone I am right back where i started when i sought help 20 years ago- but now im worse off than before. so all its done is extended my addiction- strengthened its intensity- offered me a half life of existence. i wouldnt mind if they offered addiction treatment along side the methadone but they dont- so you end up drinking the stuff on a daily basis and not having any goals towards getting clean.

Rosie,
The clinic I go to only the doctor is supposed to adjust your dose but that doesn't happen. They want you to think the counselors adjust your dose but I got wise. I went to the state about it. I agree about methadone. Methadone is dangerous and I don't think anyone should have take home bottles. They only sell their bottles when they get them anyway. And there is so much drama at that clinic I go to. I cannot wait to be done. I'm on a 21 day detox and this Wednesday will be 1 week down. I'm on 12.5mg. If I thought I could walk off and not get sick I would!

rosie wrote:

ive read about the concerns over methadone use in scotland. Its JUST AS BAD everywhere in Britain- its only that Scotland seems to be re-thinking their strategy. no one should be given methadone unless its in the form of a taper- alongside therapt- counseling and addiction work. heroin addiction needs a bucket load of cash chucked at it and the use of methadone is just like pouring gas over a fire. Its actually abusive and harmful treatment to the addict. Through the use of methadone I am right back where i started when i sought help 20 years ago- but now im worse off than before. so all its done is extended my addiction- strengthened its intensity- offered me a half life of existence. i wouldnt mind if they offered addiction treatment along side the methadone but they dont- so you end up drinking the stuff on a daily basis and not having any goals towards getting clean.

wow- you are very nearly there/ its worth going right down to zero. i will be interested to hear of your findings- how you will find it. any symptoms so far? many of us in this county get free of the methadone with the help of NA or just by sheer personal will power= they keep giving you methadone for as long as you need it over here and would happily supply it for life. by the time we come off the stuff we are in shell shock and wondering what went wrong. i tell you what went wrong.....the methadone program went wrong and im pretty disgusted its still being used as a treatment today. when i was smoking the heroin i was barely smoking ten pounds worth a day. 4 DF's would have covered me. but the only option was the methadone- no detox but the methadone- and as soon as i started taking it- it sent me nuts. i used to go up to people rambling......full of energy. its not just a withdrawal blocker...it is seriously mood altering stuff. and it kills.

Rosie,

Yes I agree with you! My clinic will keep you on methadone for life too if you never speak up and tell them you want to taper down. They want you to stay on the methadone for the money. That's the bottom line. They do not care about the patients, they care about the money.

At my clinic they can't take me down to zero. They can only bring you down to 2.5mg because they don't have a small enough pill. I don't know how they do it by you but where I go they dissolve the pills in warm water then they add a little juice. It's supposed to be juice but it tastes more like kool-aid.

I have never gotten energy from methadone but I would nod off a lot at first. They should have told me not to drive but they don't care. No no symptoms at all Rosie. I feel fine! I can't tell the difference. No change at all so I know I can beat this. Maybe because I want to be free so bad I don't know.

Hey Girls, I do not have the words to express how ginuinely proud of you I am and how much I admire you both. You both are beating the monster poison Methadone !!! The Clinics want you to believe you will relapse, need to be on it for life when this it nothing but LIES. You both deserve a better life. Love, Bren XXOO

Thank-you Bren! I agree with everything you say and I appreciate all the support you have and are giving me! I Love You! XOXO

Methadone


METHADONE has killed more Scots than heroin for the second year running, Government figures have revealed.

In 2011, the heroin substitute became Scotland’s most lethal drug after contributing to 47 per cent of a record 584 deaths compared with heroin, which killed 35 per cent.

There were 581 drug deaths last year, with methadone implicated in 41 per cent of fatalities and heroin causing 38 per cent.

The findings come days after a review commissioned by the Scottish Government raised serious concerns with the methadone programme.

The group were asked to review the heroin substitute after a Daily Record probe revealed its £36million cost and failure to turn addicts’ lives around.

We told how some addicts were put on ­methadone for decades, that the Government held no figures on recovery rates and that other potential addiction treatments were being ignored.

The review, chaired by addictions expert Dr Brian Kidd, echoed many of our findings. It found there was little evidence of a “real impetus” for addicts using methadone to recover, and that research into substance abuse is “poorly developed”.

Yesterday’s National Records of Scotland figures showed the Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS board area had the highest number of deaths at 193. The Lothians had 90 deaths, while Lanarkshire accounted for 61 and Tayside had 55 deaths.

A third of deaths were in those aged 35-44. The government said fewer under-25s are dying from drugs.

Community Safety Minister Roseanna Cunningham, said: “It is encouraging that drug deaths statistics show fewer young people are dying.”

But Scottish Labour’s Justice spokesman Graeme Pearson said: “The figure of 581 people losing their life from drug misuse is appalling. The Government need to tackle this head on with action, not more reports.”

http://www.heraldscotland.com/comment/letters/therapy-and-psychology-not-medicine-hold-the-key-in-the-fight-against-alcoholism.25937155





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Saturday 22 November 2014
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Therapy and psychology, not medicine, hold the key in the fight against alcoholism




Saturday 22 November 2014



I APPRECIATE Colette Douglas-Home's analysis of alcoholism ("We must fight the plague of alcoholism in our society", The Herald, November 18).












Her description of alcoholism and women is devastating and her suggestion that £1.50 should be the minimum price-per-unit is sensible.

But I have to disagree with her belief that the solution can be found in science.


She writes: "To me it beggars belief science can't do more to help. Surely it is time for an internationally funded research project to combat an international plague? The object will be to find a chemical compound that will prevent our brains getting hooked."

In my view science has had a monopoly over the treatment of addiction and the result is treatments like methadone, and Librium for alcoholics.

Methadone can be useful in helping people detox but is highly addictive and ends up being subscribed to addicts indefinitely. The NHS seems to hand out methadone to all and sundry, without supporting therapy, and they call this "addiction treatment".

The drugs companies behind methadone issue international scientific reports which "prove" that those who use their drug are "stabilised" and doing well. These reports become the basis for government policy - and more than 90 per cent of Scotland's "addiction treatment" budget goes on this drug. The rehab clinics, on the other hand, have been starved of funds by the NHS and can't afford to pay for the kind of international "scientific" study that the drugs industries churn out.

The one study that does prove the effectiveness of rehab and "talking therapies" was Project Match, an eight-year multi-site project in the United States that cost $27 million. I wonder how many commissioners in the NHS even know about it? Even if the rehab sector were able to afford another big study, what would be the guarantee that anyone in govern­ment would take it seriously?

My experience in rehab suggests that the answer lies in the psychological causes of addiction: why is an addict self-medicating? What is the pain they are trying to dull? Do they have an eating disorder, anxiety or trauma? How can we work through their denial?

It is only by patiently working with their internal issues, which are often hidden, that we can help them to identify -and understand - the root of their problems.

Only at that point can we help them to find a way back to normality, a way that should result in a lifetime of abstinence.

Science certainly has a place in all this and we now understand how the brain gets addicted better than ever, but equal footing needs to be given to the soft skills like therapy and psychology - as well as the anonymous self-help groups which have helped millions of people recover from addiction at no cost to the taxpayer.

Rupert Wolfe Murray,

Castle Craig Hospital,

Blyth Bridge,

West Lothian.