Heroin substitute vending machines for Dartmoor Prison
CONVICT drug addicts at a jail near Plymouth are being given a heroin substitute through vending machines.
Dartmoor is among a number of prisons to have installed machines automatically dispensing methadone.
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The machines, which allow prisoners to access the drug directly by scanning their fingerprint or iris, are operating in 57 prisons.
A £4 million scheme will see the equipment machines installed in half the 140 prisons in England and Wales.
Shadow justice secretary Dominic Grieve, who uncovered details of the scheme, said it amounted to an "admission of failure" in attempts to get addicts clean.
The total cost of the machines exceeds by £1 million the amount spent on an abstinence programme aimed at getting addicts off drugs, he said.
He said: "The public will be shocked that ministers are spending more on methadone vending machines than the entire budget for abstinence-based treatments.
"Getting prisoners clean of drugs is one of the keys to getting them to go straight.
"We need to get prisoners off all drug addiction – not substitute one dependency for another. The Government's approach of trying to 'manage' addiction is an admission of failure."
It comes amid wider concerns about the 'escalating' use of the heroin substitute to treat drug addicts generally.
There is also the cost, which is thought to be between £3,000 and £4,000 per patient, per year.
Methadone prescription is official policy for tackling heroin withdrawal. Its supporters say that despite its disadvantages, it gives the best hope of breaking the chaotic cycle of hardcore heroin use.
It has been compared to a nicotine patch for heroin addicts, providing a slow, steady delivery that allows addicts to stabilise their cravings.
Usually taken as a syrup once a day, methadone helps replace frequent daily injections of heroin, and the accompanying crime that addicts commit to pay for it.
But although methadone has been shown to reduce chronic heroin use and the crime that accompanies it, the drug is less successful at stopping people from taking drugs altogether. Some continue to use heroin, and use methadone as a "top up" drug.
Critics say methadone just replaces one dependency with another, and some others say it can be even harder to quit than heroin.
It is also highly toxic. It is possible to overdose on methadone, leading to a coma or even to stopping breathing.
A Department of Health spokesman said: "The department spends around £240million on offender health. £40million is for the integrated drug treatment programme in place in prisons, and methadone dispensers are only a small part of this.
"Clinical professionals decide what treatments are best for individuals, but ultimately, all of them are aimed at getting people off drugs.
"Methadone dispensers are a safe and secure method for providing a prescribed treatment. They can only be accessed by the person who has been clinically assessed as needing methadone and that person is recognised by a biometric marker, such as their iris.
"This means that the treatment can only be given to the right person, at the right time, in the right dose. A health professional then oversees the person taking the treatment.
"The National Offender Management Service is also taking robust action to reduce the supply of and demand for illicit drugs in prisons. The level of drug misuse in prisons – as measured by the random mandatory drug testing programme – has declined by 63 per cent since 1996/97."
79 Comments
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by Anne, Plymouth
Tuesday, July 21 2009, 2:40PM
“Not sure if this is a good or bad idea, what i am concerened about is those inmate that are not addicts being able to get the methadone and the leave prison being addicted to that instead....how safe and how well monitored is this scheme?”
by h, Plymouth
Sunday, July 19 2009, 8:38AM
“At the moment, dishing out the methodone is the job of a registered nurse and a support worker. Surely this machine is aimed at replacing them in this mundane task, thus freeing their time to focus on actually trying to help these addicts to work through their problems, as they have been trained to do.
The 'lock 'em up and throw away the key' brigade are not taking a very realistic view.”
by Comrade Beria, Moscow, USSR
Friday, July 17 2009, 4:52PM
“As a tax payer, make them go without. Better still shoot them.”
by Jules, Plymouth
Friday, July 17 2009, 9:18AM
“Debra, we've all been to bad places in our lives some more than others but the majority of us don't turn to drink drugs crime we just get on with whatever is thrown at us. Doing all the above is a copp out. Why should the majority have to pay for the few”
by debra evans, plymouth
Friday, July 17 2009, 7:32AM
“i wonder how many of you that feel addicts should be left to die etc have ever taken the time out to talk to one,but i guess you never would as your belief is they are scum.try looking a bit further than just in front of your noses,,have you ever known a happy addict? and perhaps if you tried nto talk to a group of them you would find that most of them did not start taking drugs through choice there is usually a underlying reason for it albeit you dont seem to think any reason is good enough as you didnt turn to drugs.try putting yourself in their position im sure its not a very pleasant place they live in from day to day and they dont want to be there,but heroin is a very powerful drug and very addictive and there is always hope they can recover,although this can take many times of treatments failing,would you have the same opinion if it was one of your children,would you just say let them die,they are scum.dont think so you would do what every one else does fight for them for recovery and live in hope one day they could achieve it.so before you make such stupid comments on something you obviously have no idea about go meet some of them and listen to the problems they have and the reasons for falling into their sad world.also the trouble they have trying to get help for it.stop being so narrow minded and try looking at reality,the world would probably be a better place without so many of you who think the answer is death.and no ive never been an addict”
by Mick, Barbican
Friday, July 17 2009, 2:54AM
“Harry quote- "Mick You may be right mate about them being soft but that's sort of irrelevant. The problems are with us and need to be sorted out"
The rest of us can take the pain of living without resorting to drugs, and if they can't hack it it's their problem not ours, so let's just sling the pathetic wimps in jail and throw away the key..:)”
by Tribalrose, Plymouth
Thursday, July 16 2009, 9:20PM
“It seems to me that we, as a nation over the past 15 years have let scottish politicians run and ruin england. They, the so-called Labour have been allowed to run riot through our land, making a total mockery of our laws. It is time now for us british people to stand together, firm and resolute and take back what was ours in the first place. Also why did our forefathers fight two world wars for us to give it up now to idiots in Europe. Come on England it is time for us to show the bulldog spirit, let us fight for what is ours, let us fight for our people making sure our armed forces boy and girls have the equipment and money that they need, sod the prisoners who need methadone (going without is part of their punishment).. We need Status Quo (sorry, not you boys) back in this country of ours.”
by Harry Blackmaskers, Plymouth
Thursday, July 16 2009, 9:04PM
“Mick
You may be right mate about them being soft but that's sort of irrelevant. The problems are with us and need to be sorted out.”
by Mick, Barbican
Thursday, July 16 2009, 8:50PM
“Harry quote- "The war against illegal drugs is lost"
Yes because there'll always be weaklings who need the warm fuzzy glow that drugs give them
Me, I've never drugged, dramk or smoked because I never needed to, and I'm the toughest guy I know..:)”
by davo goldo, South Wales
Thursday, July 16 2009, 8:41PM
“Perhaps the vending machines should have 100 % pure heroin in them, ready loaded in a HIV infected needle so that if the own goal does not work perhaps HIV will do the suckers in .. It must be cheaper and more effective than funding the sadarse self inflicted misery that they live in and hope to carry on living in at the tax payers expense.”