Methodone users being unfairly targeted, say campaigners

Drugs campaigners today unleashed a blistering attack on pharmacists who are refusing to give methadone to thousands of recovering heroin addicts.

More than 140 chemists in Dublin have stopped dispensing the life-saving narcotic substitute because of a deepening row with health chiefs over drug prices.

Phillip Keegan, of the Family Support Network (FSN), one of the country’s leading addict support groups, accused the pharmacists involved of acting unethically.

“Why pick on methadone users? Is it because they’re an easy target? That’s my feeling. And the risks are huge,” warned the FSN chairman.

Mr Keegan, who works at the coal face of drug abuse, warned there is a high risk of users getting sick, overdosing and falling back into a life of crime in the coming days.

“It doesn’t bear thinking about. I reckon there is going to be chaos,” he said.

“A drug user is going to find the easiest way out of his problem. If they are suffering from withdrawal they are going to go for the easiest option.

“And the easiest option may be the guy dealing drugs at the end of the street or at the end of the mobile phone.

“And that can encourage people back into criminality, people who have long been stable and have gotten used to living within their means and know that their methadone will be there when they need it.”

The anti-drugs campaigner also warned that many recovering addicts who have managed to hold down a job could now face a major setback on their road to rehabilitation because of the dispute.

“Some of these people would be working and their employers may not know about their drug past, so it’s very difficult for them to go to their boss and say I need time because my pharmacist can’t give me my methadone and I have to go to a special clinic at a set time,” he said.

“If people can’t make it to a clinic they are left with no alternative but to go out and procure drugs, and then they’re at high risk of overdose.”

He added: “It’s a shame that pharmacists felt they have to use such a vulnerable group to make a point.”

The Health Service Executive (HSE) has started dispensing methadone to 3,000 affected users at 11 of its clinics throughout the capital to deal with the crisis.

It incurred the wrath of the Irish Pharmaceutical Union (IPU) last month after revealing it would slash the price it pays for drugs, leading to savings of more than €100m a year.

The IPU claimed the new rate for medicines could lead to the closure of pharmacies in rural and marginalised locations throughout the state.

Mr Keegan insisted there was no justification to pull the methadone scheme and has urged the IPU to call on its members to reinstate the service.

“They should be saying to the pharmacists this is not ethical, you need to continue dispensing,” he said.

Opposition politicians rounded on the HSE for not sitting down to talks with the pharmacists to resolve the escalating row.

Dr James Reilly, Fine Gael health spokesman, said patients were being used as pawns in health sector negotiations.

Sinn Féin TD and Dáil leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin described the withdrawal of methadone services by pharmacies as yet another fallen pillar of the country’s health service structures.

"It is incomprehensible to me that Health Minister Mary Harney has let this dispute escalate to the point that pharmacies are from today withdrawing methadone dispensing services to patients throughout Dublin," he said.

"Minister Harney needs to instruct HSE chief Brendan Drumm to commit to engaging in a continuous process with the IPU.

"Dispensing of the medication through a pharmacy is a central part of the methadone programme as it facilitates a regular working life. Attending clinics will not be conducive to many patients’ programme of treatment. It is simply wrong that those most vulnerable in our society are bearing the brunt of this dispute."