Pharmacy row sparks methadone clinic fears.

More than 5,200 stabilised heroin addicts get daily methadone doses from 470 pharmacies across the country.

But some of these pharmacies are among over 700 businesses refusing to dispense under state drug schemes from Saturday. A spokesperson for the HSE said the termination of contracts did not affect the dispensing of methadone.

However, Dublin pharmacist Adrian Conlon told the Irish Independent he believed methadone dispensing was linked to the state drugs contract. He said pharmacists who dispensed methadone already had to be dispensing to medical card patients.

During a similar dispute last year, alternative drugs dispensing clinics had to be set up in Portrane in north Dublin and there were reports of stabilised addicts being preyed on by drug dealers.

Source: Eilish O'Regan, The Irish Independent, 30/07/2009