'Lack of progress in lives' of those on methadone
10 People For Years Treatment Half 12,000 Of Receiving File Photo Have Methadone Up Doing So To Been The
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.
He said research published this year, conducted among 337 users of the service, found that eight out of 10 were not currently in education or employment.
“It is important to note here that the amount of time service users are engaging with services is not being critiqued, rather it is the long periods of time spent engaging with services that perpetuate a low standard of living that should be highlighted,” Mr Healy told members.
The special committee is examining the recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Drug Use, which reported last January.
Its central recommendation called for a comprehensive ‘health-led’ approach, including the decriminalisation of the possession of drugs, while keeping it illegal on the statute books.
Mr Healy said users of methadone programmes reported “institutional stigma, poor treatment practices and not being afforded any input in their own service provision”. He pointed out that the current National Drugs Strategy was “already ostensibly informed by a ‘health-led’ approach”.
Barry Cullen, a former social worker and also programme director of the Children’s Rights Centre in Trinity College, said the decriminalisation model recommended by the assembly was just the “latest” health-led approach, involving diversion of those caught with drugs to assessment and possible onward health referral, while possession itself would remain illegal.
“It too would have little impact, and simply transfer procedural tasks from the over-burdened court system to the over-burdened health services,” he said.
Mr Cullen, author of ' ', urged members to recommend the legalisation and regulation of illegal drugs.
“The war [on drugs], which tends to be fought out in the more vulnerable places, needs to end,” he said.
Eddie Mullins, CEO of Merchants Quay Ireland, said drug use was “pervasive” and added: “Every day, MQI witnesses the harmful impacts of drug use on individuals, families, communities, and our wider society.
"But it must be acknowledged that areas of poverty and social deprivation are significantly more impacted by drug use and drug-related intimidation.”
He backed decriminalisation of possession but said it must be coupled with increased investment in treatment — including recovery and stabilisation services — and harm reduction.
Psychologist Sharon Lambert of UCC said drug use should be understood as a mental health issue and that this would shift the focus from punishment to treatment and recovery.