HEROIN PROBLEM WORSE DESPITE BID TO CURB MENACE

DUBLIN’S heroin problem has got worse over the last three years
despite efforts by the authorities to curb the menace, an anti drugs
activist claimed last night.

“We are back to open dealing on the streets,” said Andre Lyder of the
Coalition Against Drugs. He was speaking before a protest march in the
south inner city. Some years ago, a war on drugs was launched by the
Government action after a series of widely publicised public marches,
some targeting suspected dealers and pushers.

Evidence from a number of Dublin communities showed heroin use on the
increase, with a worrying rise in the number of younger addicts.
Despite the Government’s high profile efforts to tackle drugs, the
current measures were proving not to be effective.

“Three years ago, there was a sense of optimism, but down the road
there is a huge sense of frustration now that the problem has got
worse,” said Mr Lyder. While he welcomed the record heroin seizures
last year, there was a resurgence in open drug dealing. Communities
ravaged by the drugs menace felt that not enough resources were being
provided on a number of fronts.

Some 4,000 of Dublin’s estimated 13,500 opiate users are on methadone
treatment which meant 10,000 addicts were going out on the street to
buy heroin, according to Mr Lyder. “At an average of pounds 50 per day
for 365 days of the year multiplied by 10,000 that amounts to a large
sum.”