TREATMENT DEMAND STRETCHES CLINICS

DRUG treatment centres are being stretched to cope with the demand for
help by heroin addicts, the Dail Public Accounts Committee heard yesterday.

At any one time, 600 people are on waiting lists seeking treatment at
clinics run or funded by the Eastern Health Board, the main provider
in the greater Dublin area.

The board feels it will be possible to deal with most of the addicts
on current waiting lists when it has between seven and nine new
clinics up and running this year.

The quest for treatment is fuelled by garda success in curbing heroin
supply as well as the tighter controls of prescribing the methadone
substitute introduced last October.

Estimates based on 1996 data put the total number of opiate (heroin
based drug) addicts in the greater Dublin area at 13,460. There are
3,738 people being prescribed methadone.

The committee was told focus was being placed on providing
community-based treatment. Despite a public perception, local
objections to the placing of drug treatment clinics in a neighbourhood
is not a serious issue. The difficulty appeared to be in getting
suitable locations.

EHB chief executive officer Pat McLoughlin said the board was spending
over IEP17m in its drugs programme this year. Apart from increasing
the number of treatment centres, it was constantly seeking to expand
the numbers of GPs and pharmacies taking part in the co-operative
programme and was providing more beds for detoxification,
rehabilitation and stabilisation of addicts.

Earlier, Fr Sean Casson who was attached to Merchants Quay clinic in
Dublin, recalled that today's drug problem was the result of years of
neglect.

An allocation of IEP10m for the 13 local drug task forces in the
Dublin area was a drop in the ocean. Drug addiction came out of social
disadvantage and neglect. Margaret Hayes, secretary general,
Department of Tourism, Sport and Recreation - which has umbrella
responsibility for the drug task force spending - indicated that most
of the allocation would be taken up this year.

Mountjoy Jail governor John Lonergan told the committee it had not
been possible to ensure a totally drug-free prison. Chronic heroin
users would do anything to get the drug. He cited the case of a woman
visitor who had stuffed three sachets of heroin up her nose and had to
be taken to hospital as a result.

The drug problem was exacerbated by overcrowding in Mountjoy. Last
week it accommodated 770 prisoners, more than 300 above a comfortable
limit, making segregation difficult.

Mr Lonergan said they didn't have a personal development strategy to
plan for addicts on their release. "Some people are just released into
the cold light of night."

Deputy Pat Rabbitte (Lab) estimated that Mountjoy housed 500 heroin
drug addicts at any one time.

Supt Eddie Rock, Garda Drugs Squad, said there was a 50% increase last
year in the number of people caught dealing heroin on the street.

Young people, especially young females, were dealing - one-third of
the dealers were aged under 20 years.

Anna Quigley of CityWide -- the drugs crisis campaign organisation,
called for a holistic approach in dealing with drugs.