I actualy read this article in my local drug clinic and was disgusted at what I was reading. I myself was a heroin addict at age 14, I am 24 now and have been clean since age 19. I tried many different ways to get clean and eventualy methadone helped me to rid myself of that painfull existence.

ciaran, basildon, england

Our drug culture does play a part. For example in Saudi Arabia alcoholism is rare as alcohol is prohibited. And I would of never started if it was not around with great regret but then again Addiction is a disease, where MMT can take a lifetime to combat successfully that gives the wrong impression.

Angus , Aberdeen, Scotland

They sell the heroin substitutes and buy heroin with the money so it's not that they don't need them it's that they want heroin not substitutes.

anne, London,

It's no business of mine if a person wishes to enjoy drugs.

What does concern me is when the illegality and subsequent cost of those drugs means I am more likely to robbed by a desperate addict and more likely to shell out a fortune in taxes combating drug dealers and locking them up.

Legalise

Seamus Smith, Durham,

Angus, the problem is not really methadone or herion. The problem is addiction and susbstance abuse. I would dispute Dr Dalrymple's claim that selling on drugs implies that addicts do not need them. What is means is that they wish to trade for something else. They have no intention of stopping.

Isadora, London,

Excellent article, spoiled by the deliberate failure to recognise the Scottish Government rather than the former downgraded term of Scottish Executive.

Brian Hill, Edinburgh,

The problem is the black market. If the drugs were legally available drug addicts would only take what they themselves needed.

Martyn, London, UK

Dere Williams should realise that this attitude is partly to blame. If all non users were united against illegal activities we would have a chance of getting others clean. The attitude 'it doesn't affect me' is alright until something does affect you.

tiny, Birmingham, England

Addiction is not just a medical problem. I also agree with your statement that physical withdrawl is not the issue; a common delusion amongst addicts. However I have seen that methadone can give a positive level of stability for some; in terms of emotional health and reduced criminal activity.

JD, LONDON,

withdrawal from Methadone is worse than withdrawal from Heroin. Anyway to think Methadone will work without the other things-a purpose in life and social support that includes some helpful people is a hopeless idea..one obvious answer is a job plus attendance at courses including Bible study.

mmackenzie, manchester, uk

Perhaps the answer is to let the drug addicts live in the pro-drugs campaigners' homes. The pro-drugs campaigners can look after the addicts and subsidise the drugs without any outside help or money to prove that their way is the best way.

Carolyn, Surbiton,

Thank you Dr. Dalrymple.

The long term use of methadone has been actively promoted for far too long. This highly addictive substance keeps people in treatment, whilst preventing their entry into drug free recovery. It is an established fact that those on methadone continue to use other drugs.

Peter O'Loughlin, Beckenham BR3 3AT, England

As a hospital doc ive seen many patients withdraw from heroin on the ward. Sure they become mildly agitated for 1 to 2 days they may even have diarrhoea. But thats it. Its not the life threatening medical condition that is alcohol withdrawal. I have to agree with the author, methadone isnt working

Steve, leicester,

Addiction? When the Communists took over in China there were 45 million opium addicts thereabouts. A year later there were no addicts. Problem solved.

ian cheese, london, uk

I have had the DTs after drinking 1Lt of Vodka a day for a year, and the result was hallucinations of ants crawling all over me, vomiting and shaking, this I know was not just some sort of gross exaggeration and I have tried cold turkey, it really is the abyss of hell in relation to the DTs!

Angus , Aberdeen, Scotland

junkies sell their methadone or buprenorphine( in my experience) to get money to buy heroin. that only suggests that those medicines are not working to their purpose. Withdrawals ARE uncomfortable, especially the constand reminder that a bit of h will relieve you of all discomfort.

torger, oslo, norway

I've read this "pull yourself together" prescription from this doctor before. People who can solve their addiction by an effort of will are not addicts by definition. The person who destroys his or her life pursuing a fix needs help.

Kevin Straw, Leicester,

So the alternative to methadone prescriptions is....suggest to the addicts they give up their addiction and never give it a second thought? Give them a bible? Back in the real world methadone prescriptions have demonstrably cut crime more than any other single policy AND helped countless individuals

Danny, London,

Methadone is not the problem, but heroin is. This is a social virus thats ruining peoples lives by storm. Everyone seems to be focusing on the result, people on methadone, than the cause, people importing heroin. How stopping the prescribing of methadone is going to help this I would like to know?

Angus , Aberdeen, Scotland

I'm a housing worker, and many of my clients are on methadone permanently . and not really leaving the sphere of drug use.
Would it change if drug-workers were paid by final outcomes?

-However-

Keeping in touch with drug-users is difficult - this works without courts or mental health teams

Ali, Sheffield, UK

Of ocurse, if heroin addiction were not treated as a criminal thing in the first place, we wouldn't have many of the problems we do have.

So what if people want to be addicted? That's fine by me as long as they're not robbing me. End prohibition, simple as.

Dere Williams, Norwich, UK

I have to agree with Rob, heroin withdrawal is a very harrowing experience. Without apportioning blame as to whether they have brought it on themselves, is someone lying awake upto 20 nights in a row, sweating , shaking, vomiting really the result of "anticipatory anxiety".

david, london, london

The govenrment could merely introduce a deadly strain of heroine so strong that anyone taking it would die. Of course they would advise the public of this course of action well in advance. Why anyone taking drugs is anyone elses responsibility is beyond me.

John, Egremont, Cumbria

The fact that addiction rates continue to soar is testimony to our failure to manage drug addiction properly. Unless we have logical evidence based policy we are going are not going to solve the problem. I believe there is a lot of evidence for prescribing heroin for heroin addicts.

Claire Noons, Leeds,

It's nice to read an article by someone with some common sense. The propaganda used to promote the use of methadone is no different than the propaganda used to sell a used automobile. And the methadone community seems to answer any comment against it as someone must be uneducated.

mike, LA, USA

The real facts of methadone maintenance have been rejected and/or hid for over 3 decades until it became available for pain management in the U.S. It seems here that an entire industry has been built under the radar of the common people, and I am glad to see the # of deaths and other facts known.

mike, LA, USA

I don't know what addicts you observed in their cushy cells in prison with free meals but for most addicts withdrawal is a living hell even more so when you're holding down a job,(i.e not lying in a prison bunk all day) which many heroin addicts actually do contrary to popular opinion.

Rob, Glasgow,