Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 20 June 2024

Committee on Drugs Use

Drug Use Policy: HSE, Department of Justice and Department of Health

9:30 am

Photo of Mark WardMark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I think Dr. Keenan is misinterpreting me. I said that methadone maintenance has a place in harm reduction - it definitely does - but I emphasised the barriers that people face when they want to come off it at that stage in their lives. Sometimes there might only be a small window of opportunity for a person to be a able to decide this is the right time for them to come off methadone. They find the barriers unbelievably hard to get over.