Treatment for drug addicts inadequate in many cities

Treatment generally succeeds, once started

print this

Drug addicts trying to shake off their dependency, are having to wait for long periods of time before getting into a treatment programme. Alcoholics can get into detoxification in just a couple of days.
     The queue for replacement treatment for opiate addicts is even longer, and demand does not seem to be declining, even though experimentation with drugs appears to have gone down somewhat, says Helena Vorma, head of intoxicant psychiatry at the Helsinki University Central Hospital (HUCH).
     “There is a large number of drug users who are addicted and need treatment.”
     
The six month maximum wait under the treatment guarantee law is exceeded especially in Helsinki. At present, there are 79 Helsinki residents on a waiting list, in which the wait is expected to take 13.5 months. The line is so long that the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health plans to discuss it with Helsinki.
      The situation is expected to be eased in October, when Helsinki buys ten additional slots, and will move 30 patients to treatment at health care centres. Anneli Karppanen, acting head physician of intoxicant treatment for Helsinki Social Services believes that this will reduce the wait to six months.
      About 400 Helsinki residents are in drug replacement treatment.
      “Treatment is a significant support for getting back to normal life”, Karppanen says.
      “Some have gone back to work, some study, and some have completed a professional degree.”
     
Turku and Tampere have managed to get their treatment queues down to less than six months. Drug replacement treatment is administered at health care centres and experiences are positive.
     “There have been so many successes that I experience the work as positive”, said Antti Mikkonen, an Turku psychiatrist at a meeting of experts from the Nordic Countries held in Helsinki in June.
      “The overall situation of patients is improving significantly. About five per cent have been weaned from their replacement drugs.”
     
In Jyväskylä the wait for treatment is more than six months, and the same is true for Kuopio.
      “It is frustrating not to get proper treatment right away”, says Heikki Pokkinen, head of outpatient treatment at Jyväskylä’s regional drug service foundation.
      “There is a shortage of places for further treatment, even though treating addicts comes much cheaper for municipalities than not treating them”, says Hannu Pentikäinen of the Kuopio University Hospital.
      Poikkinen fears that the queues will grow even longer, because there are hundreds of drug users, and the number of people using opioid drugs is on the increase. That is why he expects the number of those needing treatment to double by next summer, and to grow after that as well.
     
The long waits for treatment put a big strain on both those needing treatment and their next of kin.
      “Young drug users go through much trouble to get into treatment”, says one support person of a young Helsinki addict.
      The person was witness to a wait for treatment which lasted a total of more than three years, with certain setbacks. During this time, people close to the young user worked together in many ways, but to no avail.
      First there was a wait to get into an assessment of the need for replacement treatment. The wait was longer than expected, but replacement treatment was found to be appropriate. It took another year to begin the treatment itself.
      “I wish society would react more quickly”, the support person says.
      “A young person needing treatment needs 50 euros worth of drugs every day. He might mug an old lady or steal food from a store. Wouldn’t it be cheaper to treat the young people right away?


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Drug substitution treatment patients to be treated at Helsinki public health clinics (6.2.2008)
  Study finds more moderation in Finnish attitudes toward illegal drugs (25.3.2008)

Links:
  A-Clinic Foundation

Helsingin Sanomat