Drug addict’s £100k bill for methadone

A DRUG addicted mother has been receiving the state-funded heroin substitute methadone for 18 years.

Cheryl Rannie, 35, whose habit has cost the taxpayer well over £100,000, has been taking methadone for more than half of her life.

And despite the legal drug being designed to help addicts quit, a court was told yesterday that Rannie had continued to take heroin also for several years.

Rannie was back in court to admit swallowing a drugs package during a police raid on her home in Perth on March 22 this year.

Fiscal depute Tina Dickie told Perth Sheriff Court: ‘She was to be searched by two female police officers. As she handed her top to the officers she put her hand inside her bra, took out a small package which she then placed into her mouth and swallowed. She told police it was only 0.4 grams of heroin.’

Rannie admitted intentionally obstructing police officers by swallowing the controlled drug and was placed on supervision for eight months.

Her solicitor Jamie Baxter said: ‘Other than the foolhardy and dangerous step of swallowing the package, she fully cooperated with police.

‘She has committed a number of offences, all of which were to fund her drug habit. Her partner is also a former drug user. They are both on methadone prescriptions.’