Call for local drugs task forces to be ‘adequately’ funded

Anti-social behaviour, drug debt intimidation, open dealing, and gangland violence are undermining the ability of heavily disadvantaged communities to function, according to local drug projects.

In a submission to the National Drugs Strategy 2017, a coalition of community drug projects called for a concerted reinvestment by the State in local drug structures — structures which have been decimated by a cumulative 37% cut in funding over a six-year period.

Citywide Drugs Crisis Campaign said that since 1996 — when current drug structures were set up — the drug problem in economically marginalised communities had become “chronic, deep-rooted, and embedded”.