COCAINE TREATMENT CENTRE FOR DUBLIN'S DOCKLANDS

A new centre to treat cocaine users will open in Dublin by early
February, most likely near the International Financial Services
Centre or in the south docklands.

A second cocaine clinic will open later next year in one of Dublin's
suburbs - possibly on the southside of the city -while extra services
are to be made available for cocaine users at Arbour House in St
Finbarr's Hospital, Cork in spring next year.

The new and increased services are part of a renewed emphasis on
dealing with the use of cocaine and multiple drugs under the
government's national drugs strategy. The first cocaine-specific
drop-in centre opened in Galway city last June, but demand for
services has not been as high as the health authorities expected.

As a result, a major public awareness campaign about the dangers of
drug use will be launched in January.

It will involve radio and newspaper advertising, interactive digital
media services, outdoor advertising on buses and billboards, and
indoor advertising in the bathrooms of bars and night clubs.

Pat Carey, the Minister of State with responsibility for drugs
strategy, said recent meetings he had about the drugs problem
highlighted the fact that people were not seeking out the services,
which meant the drug users themselves "should be sought out instead".

"I have been in a lot of meetings about the drugs issue recently, and
from the medical perspective, there is an opinion that it is
necessary to go out and actively seek those users who don't regard
themselves as addicts," Carey said.

"We will be targeting workplaces and social venues with a
high-profile information campaign. We want to trigger the message
about the dangers of drugs use in a variety of ways - which will
actually reach these people or is easily accessible to them - and a
media strategy will form part of that too."

Meanwhile, private treatment centres are starting to run seminars for
employers who may need to deal with the problem of drugs affecting
their employees' performance.

Forest, a privately-owned centre in Wicklow, is running a seminar
next month to give employers the skills to have a discussion with an
employee they suspect of having a drug problem.