Heroin addiction report calls for more detox beds

The number of drug detoxification beds should be more than doubled and the number of community employment (CE) places for recovering drug addicts should be increased by at least 30 per cent, a major Government report on rehabilitating people addicted to heroin, will propose.

The report, which has been approved by the Cabinet subcommittee on drugs and social inclusion, is critical of the unco-ordinated approach to helping recovering addicts move on from methadone maintenance.

It will be published in the next three weeks.

Currently the 8,200 heroin addicts on methadone maintenance have little coherent assistance in getting off the synthetic opiate and many stay on it for years or even the rest of their lives.

The rehabilitation of methadone users was identified as a necessary fifth pillar to the National Drugs Strategy (NDS), when it was reviewed in 2005.

A senior source in the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs told The Irish Times that out of a long list there were four key recommendations. These were to get various agencies involved in an addict's recovery to "work together to provide a continuum of care". This could involve Fás linking with the Health Service Executive on an individual's progress.

The report will recommend an increase in the number of CE places set aside for recovering addicts, from 1,000 to 1,300.

It will also recommend a more than doubling of the number of public detoxification beds, from 23 at present to 48. The fourth main recommendation, said the source, was to address the "broad life issues of the addict".

There was a recognition, he said, that detoxification is not enough and the reasons why a person became addicted to drugs in the first place had to be addressed.

Details of the forthcoming recommendations emerged as the National Advisory Committee on Drugs (NACD) published a study yesterday indicating that the methadone maintenance programme here was one of the most successful in the world.

The study, Research Outcome Study in Ireland evaluating drug treatment effectiveness, which has been tracking the lives of over 400 opiate users since they entered various treatments in 2004, is producing reports at the six-months, one-year and three-year points in their treatment.

The report published yesterday - the one-year snapshot of the 215 addicts on methadone maintenance - finds 79 per cent still receiving treatment a year after they started.

Dr Des Corrigan, NACD chairman, said this showed more stayed in treatment here than in Britain or Australia.

Main points

• A year after starting methadone maintenance, 79 per cent were still in treatment.

• Participants reported reduction in use of heroin, unprescribed methadone and benzodiazepines, cocaine and crack.

• Reduced levels of crime among participants

• Reduced risk-taking behaviour such as injecting drugs.

• There was no significant improvement in mental or physical health though it is hoped the three-year follow-up will find improvements.