How many people in Scotland currently receive methadone as part of addiction: FOI release

Information requested

A. How many people in Scotland currently receive methadone as part of addiction treatment? Please break this down to regions where possible.

B. How many people in Scottish prisons currently receive methadone as part of addiction treatment? Please break this down to each prison where possible.

C. How many of Scotland's drug deaths in each of the last 10 years included 'methadone' detected in the deceased person?

D. How many people in Scotland have been receiving methadone for: a) less than 1 year b) more than 1 year but less than 5 years c) more than 5 years but less than 10 years d) more than 10 years but less than 15 years e) more than 15 years?

E. How many people received methadone as part of an addiction treatment in Scotland in each year for the past 10 years?

F. Which pharmacist/chemist companies have received money from the Scottish Government for distributing and supervising methadone dispensory over the past 10 years? Please give details as to how much. 

Response

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested in relation to the questions A,B,C,E and F noted above . The reason we do not have this information is explained within each Annex in the attached response document, highlighting exactly where the information can be located, as some of the requested information can be found through publications already in the public domain.  

Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you, however, i have provided website links alongside pulling out some key points and directions on where to find the relevant information i think will be useful to you.

The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for in question ‘D’ above, because the Scottish Government is not responsible for gathering this level of information. This level of data is available on a patient-by-patient basis for clinicians, but this is not something local services or Public Health Scotland hold data on.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

However, you may wish to contact a range of local authorities who may be able to help you.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI 202300368173 - Information Released - Annex

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