DRUGS AWARENESS BLITZ ON THE WAY

Cocaine clinics, digital media and outdoor and indoor advertising are
all part of a new drug awareness strategy aiming to curb Ireland's
escalating drug problem.

A public awareness blitz on the dangers of drugs will begin in the
new year, with work places, pubs and clubs among the venues that will
be targeted by the government initiative.

Two new cocaine clinics will open in Dublin and Cork by the end of
next month, and interactive digital media, outdoor and indoor
advertising will be used - in conjunction with a media strategy - to
highlight the dangers of drugs, and to promote services to help users.

More than 5,000 people contacted a government-sponsored drug
information site in the last fortnight, after a reference was made to
the online resources, according to Pat Carey, junior minister with
responsibility for the drugs strategy.

Immediately following last week's Prime Time Investigates programme
on cocaine use, more than 70 people contacted a drugs helpline number
provided by RTE.

"I have been in a lot of meetings about the drugs issue recently
and, from the medical perspective, there is an opinion that is it
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 radio ads, outdoor advertising, the
bathrooms of clubs and digitally, on websites like MySpace, Facebook,
Dublinks, iVenus and drugs.ie.

"Information about services can be sent on to those who make contact
by phone, text, e-mail or with a counsellor or education officer
online. There will be a special media strategy too," Carey said.

The establishment of at least two new cocaine clinics in Dublin and
Cork (in addition to the one existing drop-in clinic in Galway) is
not seen as a solution to the escalating problem of cocaine use - not
least because multiple drug use is also a problem for service providers.

"The Galway clinic was specifically designed to help people with
cocaine problems, but there hasn't been a rush on that, so we are
thinking of shifting away from the cocaine specific centre in favour
of ones which treat people who present with more than one drug
problem," Carey said.

"This is often alcohol in conjunction with cocaine, and sometimes a
third or fourth drug.

"The new Dublin clinic will be in a business district of the city,
so that profile of people will have access to it too.

"We are considering locating the third clinic in Cork, and the
fourth - at a venue yet to be decided - near a university campus or
where there is a likelihood or evidence of existing use or abuse,"
the junior minister said.

Carey does not believe that the issue of a lack of public detox beds
for cocaine is a major hurdle to combating the problem.

While he is not averse to contracting private beds for this purpose,
he believes daycare and evening courses can deter people from the
drug just as well.

He said there was "no-one waiting" for the alcohol and heroin detox
beds at Beaumount Hospital in Dublin. However, answers to recent Dail
questions show there is a 14month waiting listing for methadone
treatment in Waterford.

There is a seven-month waiting list at the Ashling Clinic in west
Dublin, and a six-month waiting list in Portlaoise. Carlow has the
lowest waiting list - two to three months.

Forest is a private addiction and mental health treatment centre in
Wicklow. The 12-bed centre opened three years ago. It does not
publicly advertise, but still expects to have a waiting list in the
near future, according to centre manager Colin O'Driscoll.

"The current drug problem in Ireland - particularly with cocaine -
is endemic, rather than an epidemic," he said. "I sense it is going
to get worse before it gets better. The recent high-profile deaths of
young people from the drug may serve as somewhat of a turning point
in educating people about the dangers of the drug.

"But the government is not doing enough. Education, prevention and
treatment is the three-pronged approach to drugs, but this is not in
place on the scale it needs to be.

"It takes so long to get the treatment service in place, and I do
believe contracting beds in the private sector - because I work in it
- - is a good idea.

"We could start building a new facility for 12 more beds tomorrow if
the HSE [Health Service Executive] engaged with us. The waiting lists
could be cut and there would be savings on planning and so on,"
O'Driscoll said.

Chris Luke, accident and emergency consultant at Cork University
Hospital, has regularly highlighted the health problems, violence,
and deaths that he has seen cocaine cause in recent years. Luke also
believes the problem is going to get worse before it gets better.

"I think there is a collective denial about the extent of this
problem," Luke said. "I see young men who have used coke coming into
our A&E department paranoid, with psychotic agitation and pouring
sweat.

"They have to be handcuffed to trolleys, and it can take up to six
gardai and paramedics to restrain them.

"The problem with cocaine is that only 10 per cent of people develop
an addiction, and about 5 per cent develop serious medical problems,"
said Luke.

"The other 95 per cent of users assume an invulnerability - but
every now and again, there will be a sporadic calamity where someone
will drop dead, have a heart attack, a stroke or a collapsed
lung.Coke is toxic to every part of the body, starting with the brain.

"It causes astonishing levels of violence - there were 4,000 deaths
in the US last year as a result of it - and there really is an awful
mixture of depravity and destruction associated with it," Luke said.