Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the effectiveness of the methadone prescribing treatment as a means to achieving a drug free lifestyle.

The Government has not made any assessment of methadone prescribing as a drug treatment in isolation. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has published several pieces of guidance on drug treatment. They recommend opioid substitute treatment with either methadone or buprenorphine, delivered alongside psychosocial treatments, as the frontline treatment for opioid (heroin) dependency. This is the treatment with the strongest international evidence base.

The prescribing of methadone, or any other opioid substitute therapy, only starts after an assessment by a competent clinician, in conjunction with the patient and taking into account their needs and supported by local clinical governance arrangements.