RID OUR STREETS OF COCAINE CURSE

As if parents of teenagers did not have enough to worry about, the
arrival of cheap cocaine - heavily doctored - in Northern Ireland has
added another danger to health and well-being. When the street price
is down to #10 a gram, from the usual #40-50, dealers know they will
be able to lure more young people into their snare.

The fall in the dollar's value has increased the volume of cocaine
from South America arriving in Europe, where it is redistributed by
the major drug barons. They use budget airlines to reach new markets
with a cheap product - and Ireland has had the misfortune to be
chosen as a suitable destination, with criminal gangs north and south
well placed to find gullible young customers.

Here, the PSNI and Revenue and Customs have combined to try to stem
the flow of cocaine into the country, mostly from Amsterdam, and are
having some success. Four men, including three Dutchmen, have been
arrested at Belfast International Airport in the last three months,
allegedly carrying drugs worth a total of over #100,000, but it is
feared that many more shipments are getting through.

Cocaine has long been a drug of choice for the rich and famous - who
can afford the rehabilitation they inevitably need - but it is now
within the reach of many more young people. They may be tempted by
cut-price offers, to get them hooked, and then they have no way of
telling what they are buying. According to the police, a product that
arrives 50-60% pure can be "bulked out" , to make higher profits,
until its purity is no more than 2%.

With this kind of profit margin, dealers can extend their business
far beyond the usual urban outlets - to many parts of rural Ulster.
Young people, who read about the habits of envied celebrities, now
have a chance to emulate them, without being aware of the danger to
their physical and mental health.

The war on cocaine, before it tightens its grip, must be fought on
many different levels. The US drug agency keeps up a constant battle,
in South America, and suspected import routes, to Europe, are closely
monitored. The best intelligence sources, of course, come from
insiders, as drug shipments pass through many hands.

In Northern Ireland, the most effective defence against drugs is
education about their effects, among young people and their parents.
While experimentation with alcohol may be part of growing up,
experimenting with drugs is a far more damaging and deadly pursuit.
Here is one area of crime that the PSNI cannot play down, because of
lack of manpower. Whatever it takes to get dealers out of the pubs
and clubs, and into the courts, the responsible adult population will
back them.