Drug addiction and methadone...

punisher5112

Hi all I want to ask an honest question as to why are those on methadone left on it for so long while they continue to abuse other opioids such as prescription drugs, heroin, cocaine and so on...

Many are on this program and continue to be on it 10, 20, 30 years...

How is this allowed to continue and why aren't we getting those that are addicted into actual facilities to give them the help they need to get off these devil drugs and actually function in society.

I was in town earlier and it's honestly so sad seeing so many that their lives are absolutely destroyed and them they're having kids of their own and I feel even worse for these as they have a parent or parents that can't care for them.

Families then waiting for that call that their son, daughter, dad or mother has passed from an overdose or just the body gives up.

It's actually unreal what is going on and then don't forget the costs involved in all this directly and indirectly such as health issues so time in hospitals and clinics, crime to feed the habit, judicial time and money, Garda time and resources, prison places etc etc....


Much more should be done to get these off the drugs and also bigger efforts made on tackling the drug trade.

paleoperson

It's a disgrace, Joe.

Potential-Monke

punisher5112 wrote: »

How is this allowed to continue and why aren't we getting those that are addicted into actual facilities to give them the help they need to get off these devil drugs and actually function in society.

Because they don't want to be off it

/backs away slowly holding up a shield

mr_fegelien

Didn't Switzerland have a different approach to drugs that reduce heroin use in the early noughties (2000s)?

Beeping Kitchen Appliances

After 20 years they could start giving them heroin. As a substitute
To help ween them off the methadone.

Graces7

punisher5112 wrote: »

Hi all I want to ask an honest question as to why are those on methadone left on it for so long while they continue to abuse other opioids such as prescription drugs, heroin, cocaine and so on...

Many are on this program and continue to be on it 10, 20, 30 years...

How is this allowed to continue and why aren't we getting those that are addicted into actual facilities to give them the help they need to get off these devil drugs and actually function in society.

I was in town earlier and it's honestly so sad seeing so many that their lives are absolutely destroyed and them they're having kids of their own and I feel even worse for these as they have a parent or parents that can't care for them.

Families then waiting for that call that their son, daughter, dad or mother has passed from an overdose or just the body gives up.

It's actually unreal what is going on and then don't forget the costs involved in all this directly and indirectly such as health issues so time in hospitals and clinics, crime to feed the habit, judicial time and money, Garda time and resources, prison places etc etc....


Much more should be done to get these off the drugs and also bigger efforts made on tackling the drug trade.

Agree totally but there are not enough facilities for what is a long term treatment. I had a friend whose daughter got off drugs in a faclilty very successfully. Came out, back with her old friends and back to drugs.

It is a life style. Peer pressure.

Markcheese

Beeping Kitchen Appliances wrote: »

After 20 years they could start giving them heroin. As a substitute
To help ween them off the methadone.

The authorities in one Swiss city did that, they prescribed heroin to long term addicts, they reckoned it was cheaper and helped get people off the streets.. Dunno how it worked long term

Markcheese

Markcheese wrote: »

The authorities in one Swiss city did that, they prescribed heroin to long term addicts, they reckoned it was cheaper and helped get people off the streets.. Dunno how it worked long term

It worked out well. Crime fell and new heroin users are almost non-existent.

1o059k7ewrqj3n

Heroin/methadone addicts need to be sterilised.

The high horse brigade

Steyr 556 wrote: »

Heroin/methadone addicts need to be sterilised.

That's a great approach, do you mind expanding it a little to tell us how it helps them, us or anyone?

zerosugarbuzz

Basically the drug problem has become an industry a bit like you see the homelessness problem becoming an industry. Thousands of people are employed directly to deal with drug users from the legal profession to the medical profession, social workers, guards, prision officers etc etc. If it weren’t for drug addicts out prison population would be more than halved. Who wants all those professionals unemployed? I know someone who was put on methadone when she was 19. She was not a typical drug addict in that she came from a good home but fell in with the wrong crowd. She had huge difficulty getting the services to wean her off methadone. Eventually she and her family got her off it and she is clean and employed 15 + years. Her parents were told by the methadone clinic that the consultant on charge was paid per head. That was one of the main ones in the city centre. It actually should be a scandal, Prime Time investigates maybe.

kildare lad

[Deleted User] wrote: »

It worked out well. Crime fell and new heroin users are almost non-existent.

They were talking to an addiction counsellor on the radio the other day. He said that young people aren't doing heroin anymore , that's it's all weed , cocaine and prescription drugs they're getting addicted to. You can't really compare Ireland to other country's as we've a different mentality when it comes to partying and drug taking . Most of the people I knew who got addicted to heroin , were the same people that started drinking , smoking hash , taking esctasy really young . It's a mindset we have over here .

Mrs OBumble

The high horse brigade wrote: »

That's a great approach, do you mind expanding it a little to tell us how it helps them, us or anyone?

Trap, neuter and return.

Vastly reduces the number of kids born into the same cycle.

Wanderer78

We ve decided it's best to largely ignore people with complex and difficult mental health and addiction issues, and not provide them with much needed critical services.

1o059k7ewrqj3n

The high horse brigade wrote: »

That's a great approach, do you mind expanding it a little to tell us how it helps them, us or anyone?

Opioid-addicted babies have serious health problems, and the cost associated with weaning them off an addiction can be immense, and they may have health problems and psychological or learning difficulties for life.

suicide_circus

zerosugarbuzz wrote: »

Basically the drug problem has become an industry a bit like you see the homelessness problem becoming an industry. Thousands of people are employed directly to deal with drug users from the legal profession to the medical profession, social workers, guards, prision officers etc etc. If it weren’t for drug addicts out prison population would be more than halved. Who wants all those professionals unemployed? I know someone who was put on methadone when she was 19. She was not a typical drug addict in that she came from a good home but fell in with the wrong crowd. She had huge difficulty getting the services to wean her off methadone. Eventually she and her family got her off it and she is clean and employed 15 + years. Her parents were told by the methadone clinic that the consultant on charge was paid per head. That was one of the main ones in the city centre. It actually should be a scandal, Prime Time investigates maybe.

Once problems get monetised there is no incentive to solve them. Can you imagine the amount of people out of work if cancer were cured tomorrow?

Wanderer78

suicide_circus wrote:

Once problems get monetised there is no incentive to solve them. Can you imagine the amount of people out of work if cancer were cured tomorrow?

Conspiracy theorists really are a strange breed!

suicide_circus

Wanderer78 wrote: »

Conspiracy theorists really are a strange breed!

not a conspiracy theory...i'm not saying there is a secret cure for cancer that is being withheld, just that when it is found a lot of people will be unemployed. hardly a contentious observation.

zerosugarbuzz

zerosugarbuzz wrote: »

.........?
.... I know someone who was put on methadone when she was 19. She was not a typical drug addict in that she came from a good home but fell in with the wrong crowd. She had huge difficulty getting the services to wean her off methadone. Eventually she and her family got her off it and she is clean and employed 15 + years. Her parents were told by the methadone clinic that the consultant on charge was paid per head. That was one of the main ones in the city centre. It actually should be a scandal, Prime Time investigates maybe.

You left out the fact she was on fncking heroin initially.
Typical addict doesn't exist BTW.

The high horse brigade

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Trap, neuter and return.

Vastly reduces the number of kids born into the same cycle.

Do so we do the same for recreational and prescription drugs? alcohol? Where do we draw the line?

Thelonious Monk

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Trap, neuter and return.

Vastly reduces the number of kids born into the same cycle.

You Christians are a funny bunch. Anti immigration, pro eugenics. In another thread you said single men shouldn't be left around children and they'd be tempted to molest them. Say some prayers.

corner of hells

zerosugarbuzz wrote: »

Basically the drug problem has become an industry a bit like you see the homelessness problem becoming an industry. Thousands of people are employed directly to deal with drug users from the legal profession to the medical profession, social workers, guards, prision officers etc etc. If it weren’t for drug addicts out prison population would be more than halved. Who wants all those professionals unemployed? I know someone who was put on methadone when she was 19. She was not a typical drug addict in that she came from a good home but fell in with the wrong crowd. She had huge difficulty getting the services to wean her off methadone. Eventually she and her family got her off it and she is clean and employed 15 + years. Her parents were told by the methadone clinic that the consultant on charge was paid per head. That was one of the main ones in the city centre. It actually should be a scandal, Prime Time investigates maybe.

There are doctors employed in clinics prescribing methadone, to say they're paid by head is wrong , they each have a caseload of addicts but they're paid a salary by the HSE.
In the bigger clinics theres specialist nurses, counsellors and various support staff all paid ordinary salaries.
At the moment, just to keep an addict on methadone costs 2000euros a year , we've in and around 30000 addicts nationwide and never really varies much .
Poster who said we've no plan to detox or effective plan is right, the resources just aren't there.

fonecrusher1

This thread should be in the Dublin City forum. Obviously.

corner of hells

fonecrusher1 wrote: »

This thread should be in the Dublin City forum. Obviously.

Early troll this morning.

Foweva Awone

kildare lad wrote: »

They were talking to an addiction counsellor on the radio the other day. He said that young people aren't doing heroin anymore , that's it's all weed , cocaine and prescription drugs they're getting addicted to. You can't really compare Ireland to other country's as we've a different mentality when it comes to partying and drug taking . Most of the people I knew who got addicted to heroin , were the same people that started drinking , smoking hash , taking esctasy really young . It's a mindset we have over here .

That's one person's view, heroin is still a major problem in Dublin, and to a lesser extent in Cork, Limerick, and other pockets around the country. I bet that counsellor isn't working with somewhere like MQI or Coolmine or Soilse where a very large number of service users are addicted to or recovering from opiates.

pure.conya

punisher5112 wrote: »

Hi all I want to ask an honest question as to why are those on methadone left on it for so long while they continue to abuse other opioids such as prescription drugs, heroin, cocaine and so on...

because methadone takes a lot longer to come off of, and the most important reason is profit

corner of hells

pure.conya wrote: »

because methadone takes a lot longer to come off of, and the most important reason is profit

How long does it take to come off ?

punisher5112

I just think life is more important than what you see wasting away walking the streets....

Society as a whole could benefit so much if they were actually helped properly....


I actually couldn't give a fluck about all these do-gooder and how they would be saying oh it's against their rights etc but they need to be locked up in a proper facility which prison isn't suitable as they easily get drugs.

It seems here though it's thought to be better to shut mental health institution and let them all walk about and we have nothing in place to actually get the addicts off the absolute demon of drugs.

Mrs OBumble

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

You Christians are a funny bunch. Anti immigration, pro eugenics. In another thread you said single men shouldn't be left around children and they'd be tempted to molest them. Say some prayers.

Anti-immigration? Haaaa .... no idea where you got that from. The Irish gene pool needs all the help it can get.

And please do link to that other thread for context.

corner of hells

punisher5112 wrote: »

I just think life is more important than what you see wasting away walking the streets....

Society as a whole could benefit so much if they were actually helped properly....


I actually couldn't give a fluck about all these do-gooder and how they would be saying oh it's against their rights etc but they need to be locked up in a proper facility which prison isn't suitable as they easily get drugs.

It seems here though it's thought to be better to shut mental health institution and let them all walk about and we have nothing in place to actually get the addicts off the absolute demon of drugs.

You would be locking up about 30000 opiate addicts , would you move on to alcoholics then ?

pure.conya

corner of hells wrote: »

How long does it take to come off ?

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/methadone-maintenance-i-d-love-to-get-this-out-of-my-system-1.2368806?mode=amp

punisher5112

corner of hells wrote: »

You would be locking up about 30000 opiate addicts , would you move on to alcoholics then ?

Well I'm all ears for a better idea as all I see are people absolutely destroyed to the point they look like zombies and there are so many passing away it's so sad.

corner of hells

punisher5112 wrote: »

Well I'm all ears for a better idea as all I see are people absolutely destroyed to the point they look like zombies and there are so many passing away it's so sad.

So am I , I work in low threshold homeless services and have wor6in drug services too.