Pharmacies face siege from desperate addicts

DRUG addicts have threatened to “rush the counters” of pharmacies if they become desperate for their methadone fix.

While the Health Service Executive has made emergency arrangements for people on methadone after pharmacists said they would not dispense the synthetic drug, the action has hit an extremely volatile group.

Stephen, a methadone user for about a year, gets methadone from a Dublin pharmacy, although he now lives in Drogheda, Co Louth. His chemist told him last week he would not be affected but when he called in to collect his prescription yesterday he was told it was not being dispensed.