Drug trade worth over €6m to city dealers

WATERFORD’S illegal drugs trade is worth up to €6.6 million a year to dealers in the city, a new report reveals.

Community workers claim it’s possible to get any type of illegal drug in Waterford, with heroin and cocaine becoming increasingly popular.

Anecdotal evidence in the city suggests that two ecstasy tablets can be bought for €5, while a ‘wrap’ of cocaine — enough for 10-15 lines — costs between €10 and €15.

“Cocaine use is common in the toilets of all Waterford nightclubs, where both males and females take it,” says the report.

The findings are contained in a study on the drug problem in the Waterford area which was published yesterday by an Oireachtas all-party committee.

Among the recommendations of the committee are a new methadone treatment clinic for the city, which would prevent users who have become ‘clean’ from having to mix with those still using heroin.

The Leinster House committee also wants to give powers to the Criminal Assets Bureau to seize any pub or club found to have illegal drug dealing on its premises. It further proposed gardaí should object to any renewal of a pub or club licence in such circumstances.

One of the problems facing the gardaí and the authorities in combating the drugs problem in Waterford is the lack of court facilities — leading to an average six-month delay in the district court and 18-month delay in the circuit court in processing drug cases.

Meanwhile, the report states that users of so-called ‘leisure’ drugs, such as cocaine, are failing to make the link between their habit and the crime-driven drugs market.

Research for the report was carried out by local TD Brian O’Shea. The committee chairman Deputy Cecilia Keaveney urged all agencies to work towards eliminating the drugs scourge from Waterford and all of towns and cities.

She added: “How many more reports are required before we, as a nation, admit to the pervasiveness of drug abuse and provide adequate resources, needed to tackle it with the emphasis on the treatment of our countrymen and women who have fallen victim to its ravages?”