A ‘very long road’ to help drug users

Pat Herlihy is on edge any time his daughter steps out the door.

Even after three years on methadone.

“She’s had four or five ‘hiccups’. That’s par for the course, but it’s very hard. You think you’re nearly there, things are looking up and there’s a hiccup and you’re back again.”

He said his daughter had been smoking heroin and taking tablets before she went on a methadone treatment programme.

“It’s a very long road. You are always on edge, watching, hoping. Every time she goes out, I’m on edge.”

Pat was speaking before a memorial service at the SMA church in Wilton, Cork, last night, organised by the Hope Family Support Group as part of Cork Drug Awareness Week.

Pat said he struggled for five years on his own until he met with Hope three years ago. “I dealt with it for five years on my own. You feel all alone, no one cares, and the shame of it. In the group everyone is in the same position. You are not on your own, people understand and you get comfort from that.”

He said many families were buckling under the strain of debts owed by their children.

“If you have a daughter or son telling you a dealer has threatened to cut their neck if they don’t pay €200 to €300 what do you do? Because once you pay, there’s always a comeback, it doesn’t end. If you were strong enough you wouldn’t pay, but the risk to your children is unbelievable.”

Pat explained that the memorial ceremony was for those who were lost to addiction: “They’re not necessarily lost to death as a result of addiction, but lost to addiction. The idea here is hope, to let families know that there is hope, that their son or daughter can get out of addiction.”

Pat said the drug situation in Cork had worsened. He said while heroin mightn’t be as prevalent, the main problem was the abuse of tablets — mainly sedative and hypnotic tablets, either prescribed or sold illicitly.

“Tablets are the major problem. My daughter is addicted to them, more than heroin.”

Pat works in Togher Youth Club and sees the effects there too: “Fourteen to 15-year-olds are selling tablets. If you have three to four young fellas with, say, €5 each, they can buy a load of tablets and a slab of beer. You can get 20 bottles of beer for €15, less than €1 per bottle. A bottle of Coke is €2.”

A remembrance tree will be planted at 11am today at Clashduv Park in Togher.

* Contact Hope Family Support on 085 7438306 or the National Family Support Network on 01 8365168.