Doctor's fight methadone hysteria

Expert doctors from around the world rallied together in response to the well publicized and ignorant moral crusade against methadone in Scotland. The message from the group is straightforward - let the evidence do the talking.

People like Prof. Neil McKeganey get plenty of publicity for their attacks on methadone simply because almost no other credible clinicians share their extreme views. It is not unlike global warming - the evidence is overwhelming – yet the handful that deny its link to the use of fossil fuel make the front page.

Maybe even worse are politicians like Annabel Goldie who go about pretending that they can solve Scotland’s drug problems by adopting ‘tougher’ more punitive approaches. Completely ignoring the evidence – instead they focus on the public’s fear of drugs. The choice is clear – policies can be built on what is known to work or instead we can follow the fanatics who would have us believe that they know better.