Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 16 Jun 1998

Vol. 492 No. 4

Written Answers. - Drug Treatment Services.

Willie Penrose

Ceist:

16 Mr. Penrose asked the Minister for Health and Children the progress, if any, to date on the introduction of the protocol on the dispensing of methadone; the outstanding matters, if any, to be resolved; the likely implications for the existing drug treatment services; and the timescale proposed. [14252/98]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Cowen)

The report of the Review Group on Methadone Treatment Services was published in January 1998 and since then a committee has been driving the implementation of the report's recommendations. This includes the provision of treatment cards to all opiate misusers who are being prescribed methadone, providing special training for general practitioners and pharmacists already prescribing or dispensing respectively and working with general practitioners and pharmacists whose patient numbers exceed the number recommended in the report to bring their numbers down to appropriate levels.

The main outstanding matter to be resolved in relation to the report is the putting in place of a regulation which will put the monitoring of the prescribing and dispensing of methadone on a statutory basis. The draft text of the regulation is being discussed between my officials and the Attorney General's Office and I expect that this regulation will be in place by early July. On this date a special prescription form will be introduced which allows for the monitoring of all prescribing under the private general medical services and methadone protocol schemes. A lead-in time will then be required to allow for all drug misusers who are presently in receipt of physeptone to move to the tightly controlled methadone protocol scheme. Therefore at a later date of 1 October methadone will only be dispensed to patients for whom a drug treatment card has been issued.