Heroin treatment ‘can help addicts’

IRELAND should consider giving heroin legally to addicts, a leading charity said yesterday.

Merchants Quay Ireland said health authorities should examine the benefits of alternative drug treatments, like heroin, to compliment the existing substitute methadone.

“Drug substitution treatments are an effective way of working with problem drug users and can be an important step on the road to a life without drugs,” said Tony Geoghegan, director of MQI.