An Aberdeen woman has warned the UK Government that common treatment methods for people battling a drug addiction are leaving them “like zombies”.
Hannah Snow, 26, appeared before the Commons Scottish Affairs Committee yesterday as part of an inquiry into the rising problem in Scotland.
She was one of four recovering drug addicts who told how prisons and local authorities are “pumping people full” of methadone as way to “manage” problem users.
And the group called on the UK Government to take action to limit chemical heroin replacement treatments, and instead invest more cash in rehabilitation services.
Ms Snow, who has been in and out of prison but is now in recovery and studying for a degree, said: “You are giving people methadone prescriptions and pumping people full and they are walking around like zombies.
“And they think that is okay. They’re feeding their misery.”
Hannah Snow tells us: Addiction is a disease. It's incurable, but it can be controlled if people are given the right support. #DrugUseScotland pic.twitter.com/aiUC02UFVQ
— Scottish Affairs Committee (@CommonsScotAffs) May 21, 2019
She added: “When I got into recovery I was sent to a drugs service who will refer you to a programme were they give you methadone prescriptions.
“I was 19 and got put on a methadone prescription. In six months I went from 30ml to 120. Once you’re in that, it’s hard to find a way to get out.
“You need to open more rehab centres, put people into the rehab centres, detox them, and show them that they can live a live without drugs.”
Ms Snow also told the committee that, while in prison, officers would often ignore and even facilitate people’s addiction problems.
She said: “There were a number of times in prison where I was approached by prison officers and told that I needed to go and ‘sort myself out’ because I was withdrawn from drugs.
“These prison officers knew what was going on but they would rather have us in a state because it was less for them to deal with, less for them to process and less work for them.”
Tory MP John Lamont, who sits on the committee, said he had heard Ms Snow’s experience “time and time again” on visits to prisons and asked if there was a “fundamental failure” to get to grips with addiction behind bars.
Ms Snow said: “It would be a very, very hard thing to tackle.
“These prison staff are taking drugs into the prison, they’re supplying drugs into the prison and then they’re going home and living their lives.”
I reached out to Social Workers for support with my addictions and the way they supported me was by removing my children. There was no support on how to address my addiction issues.#DrugUseScotland pic.twitter.com/IZXlLnR4zE
— Scottish Affairs Committee (@CommonsScotAffs) May 21, 2019
Another former user, Sharon Webster from Dundee, was on methadone “on and off” for 19 years and told MPs that generations were being lost to the drug.
She said: “There’s people who have been on methadone since they were 15, for 30 years now, there’s two generations in each family that are either on methadone or a chaotic user.
“I’ve not got a great opinion of methadone. I think done right, for a very short period of time, it could work but I think there is a lot more and better ways to help somebody get past that stage.”
