MSP under fire over 'fat, dumb methadone users' remarks

Published on Sunday 16 March 2008 20:56

A SENIOR Conservative politician was criticised yesterday after claiming many drug addicts were sitting "fat, dumb and happy" on methadone.

Bill Aitken, the party's Holyrood justice spokesman, called for more schemes to encourage greater abstinence and help to treat heroin users. But drug treatment experts and Labour criticised his comments.

The Scottish Government revealed in July last year that the number of people treated for heroin use in Scotland had soared to record levels.

About 21,000 people are thought to be using methadone in an effort to wean them off their addiction.

Mr Aitken said that using the drug as a first treatment kept patients in a state of "partial suspended animation" and had to be tackled.

He added: "We have a very high proportion of the drug-abusing population sitting fat, dumb and happy on methadone.

"We have got to stop this over-reliance on methadone; get people off that particular form of treatment and get them back into the community."

Dr Saket Priyadarshi, of the Glasgow Addiction Service, expressed disappointment at the comments.

Alistair Ramsay, chairman of Drug Wise, a company offering drugs advice, conceded that methadone was prescribed too often, but said Mr Aitken's stance was "too reactionary".

"We need to see methadone as part of a strategy which embraces all forms of rehabilitation, from abstinence right through to being maintained on methadone," he said.

Dr Richard Simpson, Labour's public health spokesman, branded Mr Aitken's comments "deeply offensive".

He continued: "We do need a grown-up debate about what's available for people with drug addiction. "

"We need to look at the alternatives, including abstinence and other pharmacological treatments, but we do not need this sort of language in this discussion."