DRUG HELP SERVICES RAPIDLY EXPANDED IN HEROIN CRISIS

The Eastern Regional Health Authority is rapidly expanding its drug
treatment services in response to the new heroin crisis which has killed
eight addicts in Dublin and 14 in Scotland.

Last night Minister of State Mr Eoin Ryan, who co-ordinates the National
Drugs Strategy, urgently appealed to heroin-users to seek treatment. The
health boards had put in place emergency assessment services to meet any
increased demand which may arise, he said in a statement.

Heroin seized recently by police in Scotland and Ireland is being examined
for signs of contamination and efforts are being made to try to discover the
source of the heroin.

A garda chief superintendent is being appointed to lead the search for the
source of the contaminated drugs.

In Dublin, it appears that one of the principal sources has been a heroin
dealer, who is in his late 20s, in the south of the city. Local sources say
this man has been supplying heroin in the Crumlin area and that the victims
identified so far were among his customers.

It is also thought that the heroin may have come to Ireland and Scotland
through Amsterdam, although its country of origin has not yet been
identified.

Last night Mr Donal O'Shea, the chief executive officer of the Eastern
Regional Health Authority, which has been co-ordinating the public health
response to the problem, said the deaths of so many heroin addicts had
brought fear and trembling to Dublin city.

He said it was a matter of concern to the ERHA that a high number of abusers
in the city were not seeking treatment. "That is a challenge for us," he
conceded.

Mr O'Shea added that deaths associated with heroin were not unusual but the
ones occurring over the past two months were in addition to the "normal toll
of deaths from this drug".

Members of the ERHA, meeting at the authority's headquarters last night,
were critical that just 4,500 of the 13,000 heroin addicts in the city are
receiving treatment. Up to 400 addicts who want treatment are on a waiting
list.

Mr O'Shea said the number of treatment places the authority could provide
for heroin addicts was being expanded and he hoped to have eliminated the
present waiting list within a few months. "We have really accelerated the
programme now because of this."

He added that all service providers had learnt lessons from the present
situation and in future the coroner, acute hospitals and public health
departments and other service providers would be working more closely
together.

The chief executive officer also confirmed that the hours of the health
board helpline for addicts, set up to deal with the present crisis, would be
reviewed. It operates at present from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.

The wholesale price of heroin has fallen dramatically in Europe in the past
year and large consignments have been reaching the State, mainly from
Amsterdam. The principal source of heroin in the Netherlands is through
Turkish organised crime gangs. They buy the drugs from sources in
south-western Asian countries where it is refined, often in very crude and
unsanitary conditions.