'HEROIN DEALERS TARGETING ANTRIM'

AN Antrim community worker has warned that the cancer of heroin abuse
has reached the streets of the town.

Seamus Davis, chairman of Antrim Community Forum and an outspoken
critic of the local drugs trade, believes unscrupulous dealers are
currently trying to create a market for the potentially deadly drug.

And he has warned that if heroin gains a foothold, Antrim will face a
new narcotics nightmare on an unprecedented scale.

"People have to wake up to the fact that heroin has arrived and
something has to be done before it gets out of control," he said.

"We already have a major drugs problem in this town, everyone knows
that, but this is a much more serious situation. Parts of Antrim have
already been ravaged by drugs, but what we are dealing with here is
public enemy number one."Until now it was widely thought that the
ever-growing heroin trade was almost exclusively rooted in a few
sprawling estates in Ballymena.

But Mr Davis has insisted that addiction knows no borders and the
depth the dealers are prepared to stoop to make money knows no boundaries.

"Ballymena doesn't have a wall around it so it was only a matter of
time until heroin came here," he said.

"This drug is killing people but their addiction is so strong that
they will do anything to get more."The very first victim of heroin in
Northern Ireland was Antrim man Gary Cathcart. The 31-year-old father
of two died of a massive overdose last March while he was trying to
wean himself off heroin.

In his final days, he sought to highlight the menace of drugs before
his fatal addiction robbed him of his life.

Now Mr Davis fears that other young people could be lured down the
same self-destructive path.

And he knows better than most the depths that the dealers are prepared
to delve to silence those opposed to them.

In taking a stand against the local drug barons, he Davis has received
countless threats on his home, the most recent of which occurred on
Friday morning.

He now lives behind thick steel bars and reinforced windows, but the
47- year-old has vowed to continue putting his life on the line to
speak out against the scourge of drugs.

"There's a war raging on the streets of Antrim and it's a war none of
us can afford to lose," he said.