HEALTH specialists who have taken over the care of drug addicts blasted claims they dispense the heroine substitute methadone in pint bottles.

The denial comes the week after coroners went public to say they want a fresh approach to drug misuse. One of the main concerns was that prescribed drugs are being sold on.

The specialists say they want to talk with the coroners and anyone else who is interested to address what is acknowledged to be a difficult problem.

Care for drug addicts has undergone a radical change in Burnley and Pendle since April, with the arrival of the new East Lancashire Drug Service by the Accrington-based CommuniCare NHS trust.

At that time 158 addicts were waiting to have their needs assessed. Today, there is no-one on the waiting list, four drop-in clinics have been set up and a further five are on the way.

A spokesman for CommuniCare said: "All those involved in commissioning and providing drug services have a shared commitment to minimising the leakage of methadone and other prescribed drugs onto the illicit market, and we take our responsibilities very seriously in this respect.

"The East Lancashire Drug Service does not dispense methadone in pint bottles and new clients of the service have methadone dispensed daily to minimise the risk of overdose or resale.

"However, there are circumstances where daily dispensing is not appropriate, where clients have demonstrated a high degree of responsibility (an integral goal of treatment) or where clients are in employment which would be jeopardised by insistence on daily pick-up.

"There is a balance to be struck here between the necessary degree of control and keeping services accessible for a hard to reach client group."

The ELDS operates shared care between GPs and drug services and says that appropriately supported general practitioners have a great deal to contribute to the treatment of drug misuse at surgeries backed by specialist drug workers and the expertise of the clinical head of the service, consultant Dr Tom Carnwath who successfully pioneered the development of shared care in Trafford.

The spokesman added: "The new service with its close support of GPs and consultant clinical lead represents a significant improvement in the safer delivery of methadone treatment.

"ELDS also provides back-up specialist central services in both Blackburn and Burnley to cope with more chaotic clients who are unsuitable to be managed within shared care."

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