HEROIN USER 'WILL BE DEAD AT 20' IF NOT STOPPED

The Eastern Health Board and the State have been given one week to put
forward proposals to help a mildly mentally handicapped
"out-of-control" youth who is using heroin and has accepted he will be
dead by the age of 20 unless he stops.

If the 15-year-old youth was addicted, he could be dealt with, counsel
for the EHB told the High Court.

Mr Justice Kelly yesterday said he would sanction an interim week-long
arrangement for the youth but stressed the situation could not
continue as it is. He also imposed a curfew on the youth aimed at
preventing him obtaining drugs at night after being told dealers in
the vicinity of his home operate on a 24-hour basis.

Last week, the judge returned the youth, described as "very
vulnerable" and "out of control", to the family home because there was
no suitable secure unit available for him and said he would review the
matter in a week's time.

In court yesterday, Mr Patrick MacEntee SC, for the EHB, presented the
judge with a psychiatric report on the youth. Counsel said he was
collected by EHB staff from his home in the mornings and returned
there at 5 p.m. He spends five afternoons a week at a therapeutic
facility. Mr MacEntee said difficulties arise later in the day after
he is returned home.

He said the great difficulty was that the child-care system could not
be used to solve all social ills. There was no instant solution for
children of this sort. If the youth was addicted, he could be dealt
with.

Mr MacEntee said the EHB was willing to allocate staff to stay in the
youth's home until early in the morning.

Mr Gerry Durcan SC, for the youth, said his family were anxious to
co-operate fully and had taken various initiatives themselves.

They would co-operate with the EHB and also with any curfew
arrangement imposed by the court. But this was a short-term measure
which could not continue into the future. Even if the youth's
situation regarding drugs stabilised, a secure unit would still not be
available. The parents were doing their best but the youth was out of
control.

Mr Justice Kelly asked what the EHB was proposing to
do.

Mr MacEntee said the board would give the youth as much support as it
could in dealing with his drug problem. But there was no point saying
it could do things that it could not. The board successfully dealt
with a lot of children and had intervened in this case at a stage
where there were possibilities.

Mr Durcan said the EHB and State must get together in the coming week
and come up with a real suggestion. There was a window of opportunity
at this stage but there was also the real possibility of drug
addiction if nothing was done.

Giving his decision, the judge said this was another tragic case in
which the court was confronted with the ever-present problem of trying
to find some solution for a child experiencing the kind of
difficulties outlined in the psychiatrist's report.

At present, the youth was supervised on a daily basis by the EHB but
was going out at night and getting heroin.

The judge said the problem facing him was what to do now to secure the
youth's welfare.

The youth needed appropriate therapy in a secure setting which
prevented his getting drugs. There was no such facility available. Two
units were full and would be reluctant to take in a person engaged in
drug abuse. The judge said he could understand that.

All he could do was provide a very short-term and "stop-gap" measure

of containing the situation. This could not continue beyond a week.

He made an order that the EHB's daily supervision and therapeutic
programme for the youth continue and that, between 6 p.m. and 1 a.m.,
a board representative stay in his family home.

He also directed that the youth remain in the family home between 6
p.m. and 8 a.m. If the youth did leave, a garda could arrest him
without warrant and he would be detained until the following morning.

He would review the matter on Friday next when alternative proposals
would have to be put regarding some form of facility to ensure the
youth was in a position where he could not get drugs in the medium
term.

Checked-by: "Rich O'Grady"