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This is the headline I woke up to this morning. Sitting here and I am raging. I am so angry.
When the Ireland was one of the wealthiest EU countries, they squandered their wealth on public sector pay rises and gave the impression that they were supporting those organisations, agencies working in the area of adiction.
I am ashamed of my country. It’s criminal the length of time people are waiting for methadone treatment. So let me break it down:
Cork, wait time is nine months and 95 people are waiting.
Carlow, the wait time is seven months and 31 people are waiting.
Athlone, the wait time is five months with 97 people waiting.
City centre clinic in Dublin, 33 people can expect a waiting time of up to 27 weeks.
Waterford, a person must wait two years to get on a methadone maintenance programme. There are 40 people on the waiting list there.
Where are we going?
The waiting times seem to be up and down, improving in some areas but certainly deteriorating in others. The waiting time in some areas is so long that addicts, once they want to get off the drugs, are saying there’s no point putting their names down.
So what the State is saying to people is that they want to engage with addicts and get them into treatment, but then when they do go seeking it, the State is saying ’Go back out and use illicitly because we can’t give you a service yet.’
Tim Oh yeah! i share your despair.
In my area if you don’t hit the criteria you ain’t even getting on the waiting list, whats the criteria i hear you ask well that changes and so does the cap on the bottle, Methadone capped currently in my area, ok criteria, homeless, dual diagnosis, pregnant , criminal record to name but a few, and of course then we have the case where we have perverse incentives to get the criteria……..ahhhhhhh.
Hope you are ok my friend take solace that you are not alone.
Annemarie
Good to hear you speaking out about lack of access to treatment.
What’s the waiting time for rehab and residential treatment?
Sadly there are parts of the UK where things are just as bad, as Anne Marie hints.
I am dismayed and surprised that this kind of problem still occurs.
The area where I work (and used to be a service user) Greater Mancheter (NW England) had waiting times in excess of six months to access treatment. This was rectified about two years ago, partly due to NTA targets and a Local DAAT commisioner who decomissioned the then current Tier 3 Service provider and put the service out to tender. The new service identified the cause of the problem (insufficent prescriber time) and improved that aspect of the service dramatically.
If someone approaches our service for treatment now, they will get an initial appointment for an assessment within one to two days typically and will get a doctor appointment typically within 5 days from first contacting our service.
Anne Marie & PeaPod
Thanks for your support, I am still stunned at the lack of resources in Ireland . Let me put this into context there are a min of 14500 registered users in Ireland , no one knows for sure as these figues are collected by the services, as we all know there are many more hidden. There are 30 methadone detox beds in Ireland , the majority of services in ireland are abstinence based, and before others get on the band wagon I am not knocking absitnence services, but it is a human right to be offered other alternatives services. We then read ‘The number of prisoners on a methadone maintenance programme in the nation’s jails is on the increase because more drug addicts are being locked up by the courts.That there is an increase year on year currently are 2,014 prisonsers receiving methadone maintenance , the prisons are overcrowded. Surely the cost to the state in ensuring that people are able to access methadone programmes out weighs the cost in locking those individuals up in prision.
Its not just the financial cost, its the human misery and destruction that this brings to the individual , communities and families.
Regarding waiting time for rehab/residential if your on a min of 40mls and can show 3 – 4 clean urines benzo free… you might be lucky to get a place in one of the 30 detox beds.
The government has been warned for years that there is a serious issue, they have continued year on year to ancknowledge the problem but have done nothing about it There are many eastern Europeans ( not being rascist) but its a fact that have serious opiate issues yet they are unable to access any medical services (unless they have been in the country for more than 2 yrs and can prove it)
A recent report said The diffusion of heroin use across the country, the persistent injecting culture within networks of heroin users, the increased availability and use of cocaine and crack (by opiate users in particular) and their associated risks, reflect evolving patterns of drug use and risk,” It said their recommendations were aimed at reducing rates of new Hepatitis C and HIV infection and the burden of liver disease in the community.
The report said drugs users are becoming infected with HIV and Hepatitis C in prison and Ireland had one of the highest rates for Hepatitis C in Europe.
And yet this year services will be cut.
Its going to get worse God only knows where and when its going to end
Tim, I hear loud and clear what you are saying, my partner who is a heroin addict and I (who does not use and never have) have been in this catch 22 position. It disgusts me that when you know you are ready to get of this stuff, no matter what your choice of drug is, that there is no help whatsoever out there for any of you. in fact I had the same, as a concerned other to david, I have had to sit back and watch him killing himself, waiting to get of the stuff he is so easily hooked on. Twice in two years he has weakened and twice he has got so deep into it so quickly its nearly killed him. Im afraid its all or nothing with him, then prison, becasue a habit needs money to survive…. im not saying i agree with anything he has done in the past, i was hoping that maybe it was his time to get of the stuff once and for all, he has been to rehab but was thrown out , and not for using but becasue they say he was not ready to be there.. i wanted him to get a flat, as i really wasnt sure if they were right or not (im still not sure after two weeks) but as he only went through his 4 week detox and 4 weeks in rehab he had no where to go. another hurdle in an adicts life. if i had not have been there he would have been back on the streets….i admit addiction needs to be capped and yes i know the horrors of living with it and worrying about every day, but i really think the government should make a stand and try to solve this problem, for all concerned not only the addict but for the loved ones that have to stand by and watch whats happening to the adicts……some one needs to do something but its like spitting in the wind – if you want a voice count mine in, i would love to be able to do something, i feel so disabled, and there are genuine addicts who truly want to get of their drug but are just not able, and when they do, where do they go?
Hi Amanda, thanks for being so honest . I admire your perseverance and your loyalty , there are so many people who are in similar postions and their voice isnt being heard
The reality is that the lack of services in this country is destroying our comminties, families and individuals. There are sections of communities that have been devastated by Heroin. The governement are saying its illegal to use drugs, we want to engage with the users , however we aren’t going to provide the services so go back and start using.
It is in the nature of addiction that while an addict may get to a point where they want to get off the drug there is a conflicting compulsion to keep using too. So when they are motivated to get off it, it is vital the service is there to grab them at that point, to seize on the moment of motivation.
Having worked on the front line in street work , I only know the reality that as a worker I had a window of opportunity where the user was motivated to go into rehab, if that place in rehab wasnt there, then the user lost motivation and kept on using.
Amanda I dont know where your living have a look at my profile and I am a Co – Chair of the Irish Needle Exchange Forum, where like here in Wired in you can be sure your voice would be heard. Email me if you want to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
