The government have to look at the facts:
Rehabs and other support such as NA has a HUGE relapse rate. MMT may be frowned upon by those VERY FEW who managed to get and stay clean for any length of time, perhaps because they have very little understanding of underlying issues surrounding opiate addiction such as self medication for example.
The mental health services in the UK are shocking, waiting lists up to a year for substandard "treatment" (one hour a week!) and many relapse because the underlying issues are completely ignored and the general concensus is to blame the problems on the heroin addiction, when in reality, the heroin addiction came about as a result of pre-existing problems.
Examples of this are childhood trauma, abuse, rape= PTSD, also seen frequently in ex-service personnel. Depression, anxiety, other issues, which left untreated lead addicts back to repeated relapse and at worst, suicide.
The forced withdrawl of MMT is wrong. Different people respond to different treatments, but no one will recover with no treatment at all, or substandard treatment, because the underlying issues remain.
Often the underlying issues are untreatable anyway and MMT is a very real help. I believe that the fact that research shows that diamorphine treatment is far more effective than MMT, proves that this is the real way forward, and should in my opinion, become the norm, to treat addicts as human beings, not outcasts, asking them which treatment they wish to try.
Forced reduction will result in relapse and deaths which are easily avoided with the right treatment.
STIGMA KILLS.
Ālso, parents caring for their children would often find forced reduction harder than non-parents, so again, it is mostly women who will suffer.
Of course, the government's desire to remove children from happy homes will thrive by deliberately making good parents less able to care for their children, reinforcing the cycle of addiction into the next generation.
Sounds like government cuts hitting the most vulnerable as usual, no more, no less.
