Pubdate: Wed, 13 May 1998 Source: Scotsman (UK) Contact: Website: http://www.scotsman.com/ ADDICT TREATMENT Sir, - The alarmist headline on a recent report, "Addicts swamp GP surgeries", should be taken with a grain of salt...just like "one inner-city practice has had a 100-fold increase in the number of people requiring treatment in just five years". There may have been one single consultation for addiction in 1992 and 100 in 1997. Big deal! Medical services have to treat all these drug addicts whether they are on formal treatment (usually methadone) or not. The difference is that we are treating the complications of street drug use on the one hand (overdose, infections, trauma, etc) or prescribing and counselling on the other. The medical literature gives clear guidance on how to treat heroin addicts. Abstinence orientated treatment suit some addicts and should be encouraged where possible. As used widely elsewhere in Scotland, supervised methadone dosing is safe and effective for opioid dependency. This can be implemented by GPs and community pharmacies. It can actually save up to seven times its cost and reduces mortality by 75 per cent. This translates to a massive saving of young lives. "The burden facing the health services in Aberdeen" will be far greater if correct treatment is not implemented now. The drug problem needs a scientific approach and not sensational alarmism. (Dr) Andrew Byrne Redfern Street, Redfern New South Wales, Australia - --- Checked-by: Melodi Cornett