Methadone now linked to even more drug deaths than heroin
As Scottish Government ramps up opiate substitutes, the shattering truth emerges:
POWERFUL NHS drugs designed to help stabilise drug users are linked to more deaths in Scotland than illegal heroin, shocking figures show.
Of the 1,339 drug-related deaths last year, heroin substitutes such as methadone were a factor in at least 806 cases – around 60 per cent.
Now serious doubt has been cast on the Scottish Government’s £60 million a year Opioid Substitution Treatment (OST) programme.
There were more deaths linked to drugs prescribed by the NHS last year than from those whose deaths were linked with street heroin and morphine, according to the Government’s analysis of the 2020 drug death toll.
Critics have urged experts to study the impact of the replacement drugs.
Scottish Conservative public health spokesman Sue Webber said: ‘It is concerning to see such a high number of deaths associated with these substitute treatments.
‘More research needs to be conducted into their intended use so those struggling with addiction can feel confident in accessing treatment.
‘We cannot have one substance merely replaced with another when the end game is to be free from substance dependency.’
The recent findings about substitution therapy were set out this year by the Government’s analytical team to its Drug Deaths Taskforce.
A presentation to the academics and policy makers indicated
‘End game to be free from dependency’
there was a significant increase in OST-related deaths in 2020.
Of the 1,339 who lost their battle with addiction, 708 died with liquid methadone in their systems and 98 with buprenorphine, usually in tablet form.
Figures for replacements such as long-lasting injection Buvidal were not provided.
However, total methadone implicated deaths surpassed heroin and morphine-related casualties in 2020, while in the spring/summer of that year, methadone-related deaths reached the highest on record.
Many of those found with substitutes in their system had also taken other illegal drugs.
It comes as the Scottish Public Health Observatory stated in 2019/20 there were 501,037 prescriptions for OST, 30,000 short of the record number of prescriptions issued in 2007/08.
But dependence on substitution therapies has been mired in controversy for almost a decade. We reported earlier this year that almost half of prisoners in some Scots jails were hooked on synthetic drug replacements.
Last week, UK Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said methadone use in prisons in England and Wales was so high he was to phase it out in favour of an ‘abstinence-based’ programme.
Yet the Scottish Government has committed to a harm -reduction approach to drug deaths and in the past year has ramped up its OST programmes.
In June it committed a further £4 million to opiate replacement therapies to increase availability in the community and jails.
According to the taskforce, abstinence is not the ‘end goal’ of treatment, as that approach is seen as ‘discriminatory’ to people suffering addiction.
A Government spokesman said: ‘We are providing an additional £250 million to improve and save lives.
‘Methadone remains an important component in the treatment for opiate dependency. The Medically Assisted Treatment Standards we are embedding will ensure treatment is safe, accessible and high quality.’