THE SCOURGE OF HEROIN

Sir, - Fintan O'Toole's column of June 3rd contains a faulty analysis of
Dublin's drug problem. The following sentence, "What we have, then, are huge
numbers of recreational drug users, some of whom go on to become addicts",
is in my view, very misleading as it depicts heroin addiction here as an
outcome of recreational drug use.

Dublin has two broad categories of drug abuse. First and foremost heroin use
is firmly anchored in distinct socio-economic settings. Official neglect
over generations created conditions of educational, economic and social
exclusion. This is the real trigger of Dublin's heroin epidemic.

Handing out heroin, as Fintan O'Toole seems to recommend, is not an answer.
Radical transformation of the underlying educational, economic and social
realties coupled with imaginative and sustained "demand reduction"
initiatives as part of a comprehensive anti-drugs strategy is the starting
point.

Curbing the availability of heroin is also an integral part of such a
strategy. This is primarily a policing issue and although poor policing in
the past is part of the legacy of neglect it is wrong for Fintan O'Toole to
dismiss policing as a "lost war". Insofar as there has been a "drugs war",
it has been one waged against working-class communities by highly organised
drug criminals.

There is in contemporary society a huge "recreational drugs" problem.
Generally speaking, this does not have its roots in economic and social
disadvantage. It has its own complex set of circumstances, causes and
consequences, some of which were alluded to in The Irish Times Editorial of
June 3rd. - Yours, etc.

Ald Michael Conaghan,
Lally Road,
Ballyfermot,
Dublin 10.