‘One third of drug users share needles’

ONE in three drug users who injects substances has shared equipment, figures for Waterford and the south-east show.

The numbers coming forward for help for alcohol and drug misuse has also spiralled for the first time, accounting for 1,815 of the 2,549 people treated in centres in Carlow, Kilkenny, South Tipperary, Waterford and Wexford.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) South-Eastern Area’s annual Overview of Drug Misuse report (2004) makes harrowing reading.

Over that period, more than 200 more people aged from their early teens upwards looked for help.

Regional drugs coordinator for the HSE South-Eastern Area, Tony Barden, said the amount of new referrals stands out, as does the number of people sharing equipment.

“The fact that we had 1,815 new referrals is a bad thing in one way, a good thing in another. It shows that drug misuse is up but also shows people are willing to look for help,” Mr Barden said.

“We’ve been allocated €250,000 for this year and more than €500,000 for next year. So hopefully we will be able to see a lot more people.

“What’s worrying from this report is the numbers sharing equipment. It has all sorts of implications, including public health ones.

“We are one of the only regions to keep such statistics. We would hope it isn’t as bad in other parts of the country. But the reality is we just don’t know,” he said.

He said that alcohol is still the number one drug causing problems in the region.

“Once again, alcohol is the main drug for which treatment is sought in the south-eastern health board region. This would appear to reflect the ongoing abuse of alcohol across the country.

“The information contained within these reports is critical to our ongoing development of services for people who require alcohol or drug treatment services,” he added.

Three quarters of clients availing of the services were male, a statistic that has not changed since 2000.

Almost 7% of those who attended for treatment from the south-east were under 18 years old.

Clients aged 60 years and over were down to 1.8% in 2004, compared with 4% in the previous reporting years.

As in previous years, the majority of clients attending the services were aged between 20 and 29 years.

The main reason for referral was alcohol problems, with 68.1% of patients saying they were alcoholics. There is an increase of 8% on those who had never been treated, from 53% in 2003 to 61.7% in 2004.

A worrying 111, or 5.1%, of all contacts and 96 or 5.1% of south-east contacts had injected drugs.

Of those who had injected, 39 or 30.7% of all contacts and 31 or 27.7% of south-east contacts had shared equipment.

For clients who were assessed only and did not continue with treatment, heroin referrals account for 20 or 9% of all contacts and three or 2.5% of south-east contacts.