THE SCOURGE OF HEROIN

Sir, - The recent upsurge of deaths from heroin abuse in the south-west
inner city is alarming, but it should not hide the fact that over a long
period of time a number of young people have been dying each week from the
same cause in the same area.

The debate about pure/bad heroin is not new. Quite a number of years ago at
a public meeting, when people complained about bad heroin, one well known
drug pusher got up and said: "You will find no rat poison in my heroin. The
heroin I sell is pure." He was applauded by some people in the hall.

The drug issue has divided communities about the best way to solve it, but
all agree on one thing: in areas where drug abuse is at its worst, people
are disadvantaged and the areas have been neglected for years.

Dublin can be heaven, if you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth,
had the right parents and a good education, live in a nice house in a select
area of your choice, are in the professions, know how to work the tax system
and if you are found out get one of your colleagues to defend you in court
with the money you should have paid in tax in the first place, and knowing
that your chances of ending up in "the Joy" are a million to one.

On the other hand, Dublin can be hell if your parents are poor, unwell and
unable to cope with life, if you live in certain parts of the inner city,
where drugs are the order of the day, you did not complete your secondary
education, are long-term unemployed or in a low-paid job, have no control
over your future, feel that you are a second-class citizen and know that if
you offend you will end up in Johnnie Lonergan's, where you will meet some
of your friends, neighbours and former schoolmates.

Belfast is divided into Protestant and Catholic ghettos, Dublin between
privileged and underprivileged Catholics. If your parents are native
Dubliners from the inner city or from an out-of-town local authority estate,
you are less likely to complete second-level education than if your parents
came from rural Ireland or elite parts of our capital city. It is a disgrace
that, after almost 80 years of native government, over 150,000 people are
educationally deprived in the Dublin area alone.

Why did the State deliberately set out to create a two-tier education
system? Did the religious orders - who helped the poor when there was no
money in primary education - contribute to the situation by maintaining
private education for the privileged at the expense of the disadvantaged?
Did O'Malley's free secondary scheme - which has done so much for many
people - fail to provide an adequate education for a significant number of
students because it was not geared to their needs? Why did so many leave
school unable read or write, unqualified or unprepared for life? In fact
they were trained to do nothing and be nothing.

Coming out of the Gaiety on Saturday night after a poor Plough and the
Stars, looking at young people spaced out of their minds, sitting in
doorways begging for money for a meal or another fix, I wondered how Sean
O'Casey would describe today's Dublin. In his plays he pointed out the
futility of war. Today he might write about the lost and forgotten
generation that all can see but not enough people care about. - Yours, etc.,

John Gallagher,
The Coombe,
Dublin 8.