The provision of the heroin substitute methadone to recovering addicts in central Athens is fueling an illegal trade in the potent medicine, police have told Kathimerini.

Some 25 suspected heroin addicts have been charged with trying to sell methadone that they acquired from clinics run by the Organization Against Drugs (OKANA) as part of a program to continue their rehabilitation from home. Last week officers arrested a couple, aged 50 and 47, for allegedly trying to sell 180 milliliters of methadone and a kilo of cannabis to users in nearby Kypseli. The pair are said to have saved up several days’ worth of their methadone doses.

OKANA staff conceded that it is hard to monitor whether the methadone given to addicts is being consumed or sold.

Earlier this month authorities said they would transfer OKANA clinics out of the city center in a bid to crack down on the flourishing drug trade.