AFFLUENT PRONE TO OPPOSE DRUG ASSISTANCE CENTRES

Local opposition is preventing projects to deal with the drug problem
being set up in areas where poverty is in close proximity to affluence.

In the Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown drug task force area, locals voted 60 to
six against setting up a unit in Dun Laoghaire for 12 recovering
users. "This was for rehabilitation, it wasn't even the sharp end,"
said Mr Jim Ryan, co-ordinator of the task force.

The task forces were set up two years ago by the then minister of
state with responsibility for the national drugs strategy, Mr Chris
Flood, to help address the problem in areas worst hit by drugs.

A proposal for creche facilities for drug-users in Dublin 12, which
had been passed by the corporation, was turned down by An Bord
Pleanala. There was local opposition to the project. And local traders
have opposed building a treatment centre in Tallaght village.

While some people working in the local task forces attribute the
opposition to fear and lack of understanding, one said it was because
of the "down-right bigotry of the middle classes".

In the Dail, the Minister of State with responsibility for National
Drug Strategy, Mr Eoin Ryan, acknowledged the problem of community
opposition to methadone treatment centres.

In areas such as Ballyfermot and the inner city, where the drug
problem is widespread, communities generally support projects, as they
tend to be aware of the problem.

The local drug task forces (12 in Dublin and one in Cork) were set up
for an initial two-year period, to bring together the health boards,
gardai, probation and welfare services and local groups. Since then,
more than 200 projects costing pounds 10 million have been set up to
address gaps in services for drug users and their families and young
people at risk.

Last December, the task forces were extended for another two years and
an additional pounds 15 million allocated. The task forces are
currently being evaluated and an advisory committee is to be set up to
help the Government form policy initiatives.

Gardai say drug-related crime is down in areas where task forces
operate and this is due in part to greater contact with the local
communities through the task forces.

Gardai say it is difficult to specifically quantify. While A Garda
report in 1997 showed that 66 per cent of crime in Dublin was
committed by drug users, the last garda annual report showed a 6 per
cent drop in overall reported crime.

Chief Supt Bill Donoghue, of Pearse Street Garda station, said syringe
robberies in particular were down in Dublin south central. Insp Liam
McCahey in the Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown area said there had been more
than a 34 per cent drop in crime since the task force was set up and a
reduction in drug-related crime was part of the decrease.

Projects in Tallaght and the north inner city bring communities and
gardai together for an exchange of information and ideas. Local
task-force co-ordinators say this has helped communities overcome
distrust for law enforcement after years of living with chronic drug
problems.

The decrease in drug-related crime has also been attributed to setting
up treatment and rehabilitation centres. Every inmate from Ballyfermot
in Wheatfield Prison is contacted by a community and prison liaison
officer offering a treatment care plan when they leave prison.

The Cumas project in Neilstown, Clondalkin, helps families whose
relatives are drug users or at risk of taking drugs. Ms Caroline
Hendley, project coordinator, said the centre tried to give people
options when dealing with drug use. But the task forces have not been
without their problems. While some areas had local organisations and
infrastructure in place to set up projects others did not and so
setting up such organisations slowed the process down.

Mr Andre Lyder, former chairman of the south inner city task force,
who is also involved in the Coalition of Communities against Drugs,
said no overall strategy was employed by the task forces to tackle the
drug issue, especially supply. He said the task forces were performing
the role of funding agencies, while the statutory agencies maintained
control over plans for the areas.

Mr Vincent Doherty, co-ordinator of the south inner city task force,
said task forces and communities should have a say in how statutory
bodies spent money on drug facilities in their areas. Compared with
the financial resources of the statutory bodies, he said task forces
were on a "drip-feed" of money from the Government.

The Department of Education has also been criticised for its inability
to introduce effective drug awareness and prevention programmes in
schools.

Co-ordinators of projects stress that while the task forces have
facilitated community involvement in the drug problem in their areas,
they are not a panacea for the problem. There is no evidence to show a
decrease in drug use. Some 4,400 people are receiving treatment in the
Eastern Regional Health Board and over 400 are on waiting lists.

"The drug task force is not the answer to the drug problem, it was not
set up to do that," says Ms Mairead Lyons, co-ordinator of the
Ballyfermot drug task force. "It creates the means to be able to
respond better."