Heroin accounts for 33% of city’s drug seizures

GARDAÍ have, so far this year, seized €1,758,633 of illegal drugs in Cork city, of which nearly a third was heroin.

While cannabis retains in top spot, the escalation in heroin use in the city can be clearly seen.

Drugs squad detectives had seized €728,887 of cannabis up to November 25 last, while they seized heroin with a street value of €537,059.

A report given to public representatives by Chief Superintendent Michael Finn yesterday, showed cocaine was third highest at €368,413 and ecstasy was fourth at €104,483.

Other drugs including LSD and amphetamines, accounted for €19,791 of the total.

The chief superintendent said arrests for possession of drugs in general had fallen to 1,019, compared to 1,215 for the same period the previous year.

He said gardaí were aware that recreational drug use had been impacted by the economy.

The number of drug dealers arrested was also down, to 197 from 240.

Figures show that the number of heroin seizures continue to rise in the city. In 2004 there were just four seizures. This was up to 77 by 2006 and jumped to 159 last year. This year to date there have been 165 heroin seizures.

Chief Supt Finn said what had been a dramatic increase in heroin usage seemed to have stabilised, but that didn’t mean he and other senior gardaí weren’t concerned about the situation and would continue to deploy significant resources to tackle it.

“Heroin is of concern to me. We are seeing more intravenous drug use. This is not a welcome development and we’re not happy to report it,” Chief Supt Finn said.

The use of needles had health implications for the users, his gardaí and the public in general, he said.

The senior garda told a joint policing committee meeting in City Hall that gardaí had carried out some very good operations against heroin dealers.

Supt Con Cadogan said there had been a number of heroin deaths on the north-western side of the city but emphasised additional resources had been put in to tackle the problem.

“The trend since last July and August is that heroin use is dropping and the amounts on the streets are less and less,” Supt Cadogan said.

He said other initiatives, including counselling, were also helping.

Cllr Jonathan O’Brien (SF), who lives in the Gurranabraher area, said if it hadn’t been for the significant work of the gardaí, more people would have died from the drug.

“The level of work in targeting the dealers has been fantastic. Heroin is hard to get now, people have to go to Dublin to find it,” Mr O’Brien added.