Drug units ‘need more officers’

GARDA drug units need to work full time on drugs and not be diverted to investigate other crimes, the country’s top drug officer has said.

The call from the head of the Garda National Drugs Unit comes as drug seizures continue to rise.

“We need drug units, dedicated drug units, throughout the country,” said Chief Detective Superintendent Cormac Gordon of the drugs unit.

“But in some areas, if there is a serious crime, police in the drug unit are taken out to help investigate. When they go back, the situation may have changed. To be more successful you need to be constantly policing the drugs problem.”

He said that investigating drug dealing and drug gangs takes time and resources given the secretive and complex nature of the trade.

He said that if staff are diverted away from the task they have to play catch-up when they go back to their drug duties.

“By taking them away for a period of time the evidence gathered may have been lost, the picture has changed, the dealer might have stopped or moved. It takes time to pick up where they left off.”

He agreed with keeping local drug units under the direction of the local superintendent.

“The units should be under local management, but their focus should be full time,” he said.

There are 16 drug units in the Dublin Metropolitan Region, with several units in some divisions.

But some problem drug areas have either no drug units, like Finglas and Ballymun in north Dublin and Ballyfermot in south Dublin, or very small units, like Crumlin-Drimnagh area in south Dublin. Outside Dublin, most of the 19 divisions have a drug unit.

As reported in the Irish Examiner’s drug supplement on Tuesday, drug use has grown substantially. particularly in relation to cocaine and polydrug use.

Heroin use has also increased in Cork, Limerick and Galway, as well as Kilkenny, Clonmel, Tralee and Edenderry.

Information released earlier this year by the Department of Justice showed 283 gardaí assigned to divisional drug units as of December 31, 2006, up 10 on December 31, 2004.

The Garda National Drugs Unit has also been hit with unfilled vacancies, only now being filled. The Department of Justice said at the end of 2006 the unit had a strength of 53, 45 of whom were operational gardaí. This compared with 58 in 2005 (52 operational).

Drugs and driving: Alcohol the killer

Alcohol is the No 1 substance endangering lives on European roads, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction said in a special report on drugs and driving.

After alcohol, cannabis and benzodiazepines (tranquillisers) were the most common drugs used by drivers. However, while cannabis is mainly found in younger drivers, benzodiazepines are found in more mature drivers.

The report said separate campaigns should be used to educate the two groups. The report said EU roadside testing assessment projects considered no device reliable enough for roadside testing.

The centre said following a drop in drug-related deaths, a number of countries, including Ireland, were reporting a rise in such deaths. Irish figures show there were 90 drug deaths in 2002, 96 in 2003 and 112 in 2004. The report said many deaths from cocaine were not being recorded as drug deaths.

Ireland has a high rate of hepatitis C among injecting drug-users, with 70% testing positive for the disease.

Speaking at the launch of the report, the vice-president of the European parliament’s civil liberties committee said the EU’s and the UN’s strategy on drugs had failed.

He called on the European Commission to argue for a change in the strategy of the UN’s commission on narcotics drugs.

Full reports on www.emcdda.europa.eu