CONFUSION HAS arisen over whether the health service is continuing to provide funding for medical card holders who attend one of the State's best-known rehab centres for treating drug addiction.
The Health Service Executive says there had been no change in its policy of funding drug-addiction treatment for medical card holders at the Rutland Centre in Dublin, after claims by the centre that funding had "dried up".
A drugs conference in Dublin at the weekend heard that the clinic was turning away drug addicts because the €11,500 programme was no longer funded on the medical card scheme.
Austin Prior of the Rutland Centre told the conference, How the EU Action Plan on Drugs 2009- 2012 can Benefit Dublin, that the value of "abstinence-based" addiction treatment was not recognised.
"Since last June, there has been no funding based on the medical card for abstinence-based treatment for somebody who wants to give up drugs," he said.
Mr Prior told The Irish Times that the centre had been told by the HSE in recent months that programme funding had "dried up". It was turning away "about half" of those who sought its services for drug addiction each day.
"From earlier in the year, Dublin north city had been much reduced and then in June, July, all of Dublin was reduced. About a month later, it came from the northeast." Mr Prior said the drugs problem was "huge" in those areas. It was worth comparing the cost of the programme with the value it had in treating addiction.
Mr Prior said Dublin was now witnessing a "third generation" of drug users. "That cycle has to be broken."
The HSE North East area said, however, that there had been "no change" in its policy.
"Clients are assessed and there are stringent criteria, but that has always been there," a spokeswoman said. "There is no change in the policy. They are still funding people once they meet the criteria."
Founded 30 years ago, the centre in south Dublin is a registered charity and has about 25 beds available for the five-week addiction programme. Some private health insurers cover the cost of the rehabilitation programme, with some minor differences between them as to what addictions they provide cover for, Mr Prior said.
The conference also heard that 7,500 people die of drug overdoses in the EU each year.
It heard there were about 70 million people in the EU who had used cannabis at some stage during their lifetime, with 12 million having used cocaine, 9.5 million ecstasy and 11 million people having used amphetamines.