REPORT GIVES FRIGHTENING ESTIMATES OF DRUG ADDICTION

Frightening estimates of the real extent of drug addiction in this country
are contained in a new report showing that almost 14,000 people are using
hard drugs like heroin.

According to the first countrywide study of the scale of the crisis, over
8,500 people are hooked on opiates like heroin and methadone, while a
further 5,000 use them, but are not yet "problematic users". Significantly,
Dr Catherine Comiskey of the National University of Ireland at Maynooth
believes that official estimates of only 4,000 addicts "represents a
serious underestimate of the true national prevalence of opiate use".

The presence of a hard core of addicts among drug takers has long been
recognised by the medical profession, social workers and the gardai. Thus,
the importance of Dr Comiskey's study is that it gives the addiction
problem a measurable perspective in terms of cold statistics for the number
of "problematic users" seeking treatment under the hospital services.

Overall, she depicts a far worse scenario than is reflected in official
estimates. On the basis of a broad definition of opiate use, including
police data, there are 13,735 opiate users in the country.

The latest figures underline the urgency of combating this cancer of modern
society while at the same time providing adequate treatment facilities for
addicts.