'Lack of progress in lives' of those on methadone

Half of the 12,000 people receiving methadone treatment have been doing so for up to 10 years. File photo

Half of the 12,000 people receiving methadone treatment have been doing so for up to 10 years and one in five are on the heroin-substitute medication for more than 20 years, research indicates.

Richard Healy, a researcher in the Department of Sociology in Maynooth University, told the Oireachtas Committee on Drugs that studies he and Service Users Rights In Action (Suria) had carried out found a “lack of progress” in the lives of those in methadone treatment.