WORKERS' PARTY CALLS FOR FIGHT AGAINST DRUGS

A call for citizens to work with gardai in the fight against drugs and
associated crime in their own communities has been made by the Workers'
Party of Ireland.

In a policy document, the party described drug crime as "a dagger at the
heart of the working class". There was a humane way between vigilante rule
and coldly turning away from the misery, it stated.

At a press conference in Dublin yesterday, Mr Sean O'Cionnaith, party
spokesman on justice, equality and law reform, said: "We have no hesitation
saying unless we act collectively with strength and planning that in a few
years, if unopposed, it will be the major drug dealers who will carry on or
add to this squalid tradition."

The party said that, regardless of class, addiction always ravaged and
cheapened a person and destroyed a family. Only among the working class did
it take hold so powerfully that it ruined the quality of life of the community.

Mr O'Cionnaith said drug capitalists flooded deprived places, including
jails, with their killer products because their market was the need for
escapism and was born of hopelessness.

"There is a golden rule if you want to play your part as a lawful and
successful movement against drugs and the widespread anti-social crime that
goes with drugs, from the muggings to the murders: work with the gardai,"
he said.

Policing was not a matter only for the gardai. It was a matter for every
citizen whose duty it was to back the gardai on this crisis, quietly,
patiently and by keeping in touch with gardai, who knew best how to hit the
godfathers where it hurt, Mr O'Cionnaith stated.

The policy document listed five recommendations. It was harder for a young
person to say no to drugs if they had so little to say yes to, it noted.
Spending on education must soar and a structured path to third-level
education be put in place.

Spending must be substantially increased on Garda anti-drug staffing and
resources. The citizens must do their job, communities must band with the
gardai if there was to be success, it said. The document also called for
stiff jail sentences, stating that any person convicted of having drugs
worth more than pounds 20,000 must be subject to the maximum 20 years.

Rehabilitation, especially in jails, should be put at the top of the agenda
and finally, it suggests smart working-class communities would see it was
not in their interests to take on the "not in my back yard" attitude to
treatment and treatment centres in their areas.

Mr O'Cionnaith said the Ballymun Drugs Task Force had worked because of
commitment by the community, gardai, clergy and social workers.