A DISABLED woman suffering crippling pain has slammed health chiefs after being forced to collect her prescriptions with "street junkies".

Lin Chegwidden, 46, is addicted to the morphine she takes to cope with daily suffering caused by multiple osteoarthritis, which leaves her unable to walk long distances.

She also suffers from Graves's disease, a thyroid condition which makes her unsteady on her feet and affects her eyesight, and she has suffered a stroke.

Miss Chegwidden, a former dressmaker, of Maple Road, Penge, has labelled the "lumping together" of therapeutic addicts with other drug abusers as an "absolute disgrace".

She relies on her 73-year-old father John to drive her to the Bromley Advice and Information Service (BAIS) clinic in Masons Hill, Bromley, every month.

Miss Chegwidden said: "I have to queue up with zombies and street junkies. I've got nothing against them but there has got to be a distinction made between therapeutic addicts and drug abusers.

"I'm in this situation through no fault of my own and someone with my mobility problems should be able to get the drugs locally."

She added: "Without these drugs I would be screaming the place down. My life is hard enough without this stress and humiliation."

South London and Maudsley (SLAM) NHS Trust runs BAIS and says it aims to help addicts regardless of how they became dependent.

SLAM says it makes no "moral distinction" between sufferers and has specialist individually-tailored treatments to reduce and eliminate drug dependence.

A spokesman said: "This is no different from A&E, where people are treated according to the seriousness of their condition, not how it came about.

"A good number of our service users have become addicted to prescription drugs through no fault of their own but they still need and deserve specialist help to withdraw."

He added: "With pain control it may not be beneficial to people's health to be on opiates for a long period of time as prolonged use becomes steadily less effective without higher dosages, leading to increased dependency. Alternative treatments can be pursued with fewer effects on general health.

"Many GPs do not have the resources to manage the rigorous and regular monitoring, and specialised help, to support people through reduction and withdrawal."