Drug abuse ‘spiralling out of control’

THE South-East’s new Regional Drugs Task Force co-ordinator says everyone from medics to teachers, community leaders to the gardaí will have to team together if Ireland is to win the battle against alcohol and drug abuse.

The latest substance misuse report for the south-east shows that more heroin and cocaine abusers sought help for their addiction last year than at any other time in the history of records in the region.

Maria Fox, who has taken over the role of tack force co-ordinator from the Health Service Executive’s Tony Barden, says things are spiralling out of control.

“Early school leavers have to be our priority and must be targeted by both the Department of Education and the National Drugs Strategy.

“Over and over again, they are seen as the highest at-risk group. A lot of ad-hoc programmes focus on them but we need a more focused approach towards them. They are seen as those most at risk of taking drugs because they see no future for themselves,” she said.

Waterford and the South-East are very well resourced and a host of programmes run across the region to help addicts, she said.

The latest misuse report, for 2005, shows while the numbers coming forward as addicted to alcohol and cannabis dropped across the south-east, there were marked increases in the numbers looking for help for abuse of heroin and cocaine.

Almost a quarter of drug abusers had first used a drug between the ages of 14 and 17 years. Cannabis was the first drug used by 40.4% of all contacts and 39.8% of south-east contacts.

“The situation will get worse unless we tackle it now. Cocaine has already become socially acceptable in ways. We need to target a lot more money, time and resources into tackling the issue,” she added.

In the reporting years 2000 to 2004, the main substances for which treatment was sought were alcohol, cannabis, heroin and MDMA, in that order.

In 2005, the main substances were alcohol, cannabis, heroin and cocaine. Whilst alcohol remains the main problem substance, at 65.7%, it has dropped by 1.8% from 2004.

Nine projects in the Waterford city and county have been funded and are currently being implemented into the local plan. These include the County Waterford Community Based Drugs Initiative (CBDI); the Inner City/Ferrybank project; Waterford Community Drugs Network (training programme) and the CBDI art programme.

Drug treatment levels:

* Alcohol remains the main problem substance at 65.7% of treatment sought, but has dropped by 1.8% on 2004 figures

* Cannabis treatment levels dropped from 20% in 2003 to 18.6% in 2004 and have again dropped in 2005 to 16.5%.

* Heroin treatment levels have increased by 2.7% from 2004 and account for 8% of 2005 figures.

* Cocaine treatment levels have also increased from 2.4% in 2004 to 3.9% in 2005.