Methadone treatment to be made available in Cork

Heroin addicts in Cork will no longer have to travel to Dublin for their methadone treatment.

The treatment is to be made available to addicts in the southern region within the next two months.

The service will be run through the Health Services Executive drugs and alcohol treatment services programme for addicts wanting to wean themselves off heroin.

Until now, Cork addicts could only access stabilisation treatment by travelling outside the city.

There are already methadone treatment facilities in Dublin, Galway, Limerick and Waterford.

The methadone treatment will now be given to addicts as part of an overall programme for recovering addicts.

Services such as counselling are already provided in Cork. These include services offered through the HSE’s treatment centre at Arbour House.

Co-ordinator of the Southern Regional Drugs Taskforce, Willie Collins said: “We want to provide addicts with a better level of service.”

He said that there has been an increase in the past two or three years in the number of people presenting for treatment for heroin addiction in the Cork region.

He said: “This was an indication to us that we had to review our services.”

Figures released from the Health Services Executive show that more than 50 people were treated for heroin addiction at its treatment centre at Arbour House in 2005.

Medical officer at Arbour House, Dr Declan O’Brien, said: “Over the last six months, there have been more than 40 people presenting to Arbour House for treatment.”

HSE sources expect more than 70 to present for the entire year. The majority of users are smoking the drug, not injecting it.

Garda sources said that there has been a slight increase in the amount of heroin being seized in the city but said that cocaine and cannabis are still the main drugs being used in the city.

Article courtesy of The Evening Echo newspaper