Pharmacists must learn not to stigmatise methadone-using parents and should help to prevent children from accidentally taking the drug, substance misuse charity Adfam has said.

Children were at risk of ingesting their parent's methadone due to insufficient safeguards and pharmacists needed to be trained to spot these symptoms and explain the risks to patients, the charity said in a report published last week (April 29).

Although supervised consumption was advised when there were concerns about safe storage or risks to children, parents on opioid substitution treatments (OST) often felt ashamed to consume their methadone with their children in a pharmacy due to a lack of privacy, the charity claimed.

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	A 2007 study of methadone users in Staffordshire and Shropshire had shown that patients wanted pharmacists to receive training to combat their stigma towards methadone users, the charity said. It was important healthcare professionals were supportive of users that were parents and did not alienate them, it said.

More than 60,000 people caring for children received prescriptions for OST in the UK, Adfam said. There were 20 serious case reviews by local safeguarding children boards into the ingestion of drug addiction medications between 2003 and 2013, 15 of which involved a death involving methadone, Adfam said.

In order to minimise these risks, healthcare professionals must understand the dangers methadone posed to children and other "opioid naive" people, the charity stressed.

It referred to a 2005 study which revealed that 21 per cent of OST users who received information on safe storage of their methadone had received it from a pharmacist, compared to 42 per cent who were advised by a methadone clinic and 27 per cent who spoke to a local drug agency, the charity said.

The same study had shown that prescribing pharmacists were not as good as drug workers at understanding and addressing how medicines should be safeguarded at home. These pharmacists perceived speaking to patients as "risky" and preferred to give "non-confrontational" written information instead, the charity said.

But clinicians should use their first appointment with a patient to emphasise the importance of keeping their methadone safely stored in a locked box, it said.

"Professionals must understand this rationale, and be able to transmit the message to clients in a clear but sensitive way. This can be supported by clear literature and information in drug agencies and pharmacies," it added.

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