DESPITE the best efforts of the authorities to deal with the drug problem, little had been achieved in the fight to stem the growth of drug abuse, the conference was told.
In his contribution to the debate on methadone as a substitute for heroin, Dr Eugene O'Connor, who has a practice in Dublin's inner city, said drug abuse was a multi faceted problem. Treatment clinics were under staffed and over worked, and addicts who wished to become detoxified often had to wait for up to three months to be seen. By then, their motivation for detoxification was gone these clinics. I would hope that if doctors are to accept limited numbers of addicts in their clinics, that they will be adequately resourced and trained," Dr McNamara said.
Dr Barry O'Meara (Wexford) said that without proper training and support, he would be against taking on drug addicts as private patients. "There was a danger, he added, that doctors were being used by society."
Dr Joe Barry of the Eastern Health Board, said that treating addicts was a complex area for, doctors but studies had shown" that properly conducted maintenance programmes with adequate back up reduced crime.
It was now being suggested, in an effort to reduce waiting lists, that doctors in general practice should take on drug addicts. In the Dublin inner city area, Dr O'Connor added, the number of social workers was down by 25 per cent because of the physical risk to those working in such areas. One solution was for the Government to make danger money available.
To deal with the drugs problem more outreach workers were necessary, and if more GPs agreed to treat drug addicts in their own surgeries, a start would be made in easing the long queues at treatment clinics.
Treatment of abusers, however, could not be carried out in isolation. There was a need for training and for a combined approach involving the Departments of Education, Social Welfare and Finance.
Former IMO president Dr Cormac Macnamara said that one of the biggest problems for doctors was that prescribing methadone was merely substituting one drug for another. There was also a risk that methadone would spread into the wider community.
Many doctors were worried that if they accepted drug addicts as patients in their practice this could lead to problems for other patients. Even one addict could have a disruptive effect on a practice. He added: "On the other hand, you could say that methadone stabilises people who are dependent on drugs which they have to acquire through criminal activity, and that it allows them to live fairly normal lives as members of society.
"If it can be shown that it has this effect, then there would be no objection, but the jury is still out on whether methadone should be supplied through hospital clinics or through doctors' surgeries. If GPs are to take on the treatment of drug addicts, then they would have to be trained, that's a prerequisite. Their staff and locums would also have to be trained.
"Undoubtedly, there are problems with overcrowding in the clinics and with the fact that huge numbers of addicts gather near.