Protest may see addicts return to heroin

LOCAL drug taskforces have warned pharmacists that their protest would prove counter-productive if they continued to put methadone patients at serious risk of returning to their heroin addiction.

The Network of Local Drug Task Forces yesterday condemned the action by around 140 pharmacists to withdraw from the methadone treatment scheme this week.

The network’s spokesman, David Connolly, said it had heard from several sources that many pharmacists had serious reservations about taking such drastic action as part of their dispute with the Health Service Executive (HSE).