FEARS HEROIN EPIDEMIC OF '80S IS RETURNING
by Brian Carroll

THE heroin epidemic of the 1980s could be on the way back as young people,
especially teenage girls, turn to the hard drug to come down off ecstasy
highs.

And the majority of drug users — 88% — who inject themselves, use dirty
needles, while a third of them do not wear condoms when having sex, leading
to further fear of AIDS.

The warning comes from antidrug activists in the Finglas area of Dublin,
who have carried out what they believe to be the largestever survey of
illegal drug use in the country.

They found that half of the teenage girls on drugs use heroin, compared
with a quarter of older female drugusers aged between 20 and 24 years.

The survey was carried out by Nexus Research, on behalf of the Finglas
Drugs and Aids Forum and Finglas Youth Service, groups operating in an area
of Dublin hit by hard drugs for a number of years.

In all, they surveyed 86 drugusers aged from 14 to 36 years, and warned
the majority of teenage girls now smoking heroin will go on to use heroin
intravenously, and that this could lead to a future generation of heroin
addicts on a par with the levels of addiction seen during the heroin crisis
of the 1980s.

"Ninety one percent of those surveyed said that heroin was their preferred
choice of drugs.

"One of the most alarming things to emerge from this survey is that more
and more females are now using heroin, particularly young girls," Mr Daly
said.

"No women over 30 years of age were using heroin. But as you go down the
age groups, the use of heroin becomes more prevalent. For example, 9% of 25
to 29yearolds use heroin, compared to 50% of 15 to 19yearolds.

"The practice of girls smoking heroin to come down off ecstasy is something
that has to be researched further.

"In all probability, these girls will go on to take heroin intravenously.
More research has to be done in the whole area of ecstasy and heroin
because you could have a whole new generation of people taking heroin
intravenously, like in the 1980s," Mr Daly said.

"The survey also found that 59% of those taking part in methadone
programmes were also using heroin. So they were getting legally prescribed
methadone and continuing their heroin habit. That is very alarming," he added.

Funded by the Combat Poverty Agency, the Eastern Health Board, and the
Finglas/Cabra partnership, the survey found that 90% of the drugusers
surveyed were unemployed and that almost twofifths of them had left school
before the age of 15.

"Only five percent of these users continued in school until the age of 16.
The situation here in Finglas is no different to any other urban area of
Dublin which has a drugs problem. It is alarming that so many girls are
using heroin, that so many drugusers are early school leavers, and that
there is such a clear need for new services.

"Lessons have to be learned from these findings. We have to look at early
school leaving, in particular, because its a big problem affecting the
whole country," Mr Daly said.