*It's kind of hard to explain. Methadone takes away the withdrawal, but doesn't give you the hit that you want. Also it's slow to take effect. They say that heroin withdrawal is like having flu, in my opinion it's worse, but imagine if you had flu, and you could spend £10 and you KNEW that within a minute you would feel better, would you spend that £10? The amount of money that people spend on flu and cold medicine each year says that a lot of people would, and that doesn't even make you feel better. Another bag of heroin is guaranteed to fix you temporarily.
Also, by the time you are addicted, you are in that way of life. Getting help isn't as simple as lots of people think. It can take weeks to get a script for methadone, and by then the crisis (having no money, or whatever) is over. You've been paid, the initial reason that you wanted to give up for has gone.
Personally, I'd say that substance misuse services should be quicker to act to capitalise on the moment of crisis and use it as a hook to get people in. Being given an appointment at 9am in three weeks time just doesn't work, in three weeks time I might have been up all night trying to buy drugs, or just totally forget about it.*
What a great answer and insight, thank you. I've worked in a prison and police setting and it's staggering the amount of crime is down to drugs yet the resources and funding just aren't there or are woeful/vastly under resourced. As you say, what use is an appointment in 3 weeks time of any use to an addict who wants to give up there and now.