SPECIAL REPORT, DAY 2: ‘Methadone is as dangerous as heroin’

Cork City’s best-known emergency consultant is not a fan of methadone, the substitution drug used to get addicts off heroin.

“Very few heroin users die from withdrawal, but they die frequently from methadone,” says Chris Luke. “I believe methadone is as dangerous as heroin.

“Heroin and methadone compete to kill the user. At the start it’s heroin winning, and then in the end its methadone, and the straw that breaks the camel’s back is benzodiazapene.