Four drug addicts who are treated in methadone distribution centers which have
been operated by a non-profit organization for almost 20 years petitioned the
High Court of Justice on Wednesday in protest against the Health Ministry’s
decision to privatize the centers.
The individual petitioners were joined
by The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Physicians for Human Rights and
the Adva Center, an institute “whose mandate is to examine Israeli society from
the perspective of equality and social justice,” according to its
website.
The ministry has already issued a tender which is due to close
on Thursday for the takeover of the centers.
According to statistics
provided by the petitioners, there were 12,000 drug addicts in Israel in 2009,
including 3,500 who were being treated in the methadone distribution
centers.
The privatization of the methadone distribution centers is part
of the Health Ministry’s overhaul of its mental health program. While the rest
of the service will be transferred to the health clinics, the ministry decided
to remove the centers from public responsibility.
The petitioners wrote
that the separation of the treatment of drug addicts from those suffering from
mental illness was illogical. Drug addiction was also considered a mental as
well as a physical illness, they said. In addition to providing a drug
substitute for opiates, the centers until now have also provided a wide range of
social and psychological support for those being treated and their
families.
The petitioners also warned that there were serious drawbacks
in transferring responsibility for the drug addicts to the private sector, which
was profit-motivated.
For one thing, the private distribution centers
will receive a fixed sum of money from the government. Once the money has been
used up, the centers will refuse to accept any more
patients.
Furthermore, the private centers will have substantial control
over the lives of the addicts including powers that should only be wielded by
the state. For example, the centers will have broad discretion in deciding which
patients to accept or reject. They will have the right to apply sanctions
against patients including suspension, cancellation of benefits, transfer of
patients to other centers, cessation of treatment and cancellation of welfare
payments.
“These are harsh sanctions which could cause patients to
regress and go back to street drugs with the concomitant danger of disease,
prostitution and exposure to violence,” the petitioners wrote.