Cork tops hotline danger list for drug dealing

CORK is at risk of becoming Ireland’s new drug abuse capital, after a national drug prevention hotline placed it at the top of its danger list table.

New figures revealed by the Dial To Stop Drug Dealing service have confirmed that despite difficulties in other parts of the country, Cork is at most risk of falling victim to serious substance abuse.

The service was first piloted in September 2008 to allow the public to leave confidential messages for drug prevention officers or gardaí if they were aware of substance abuse or related crime in their area.

And after just one year, the service has already received 145 calls relating specifically to difficulties in Cork – higher than any of the 14 other locations involved in the service.

According to the figures, after the first 12 months of the system being in place in Cork, the area is already at the top of the national drug warnings table.

In the first month of the Cork programme last March, 35 calls were made to the group.

However, by January 2010 this figure had fallen to just two alerts – a situation those in charge of the confidential phone line said was due to a lack of awareness of the group and not a fall off in county-wide drug abuse.

Among the other areas at the top of the drug abuse alert table were Tallaght (123), Blanchardstown (95), Limerick (50) and Wicklow (44).

The least affected areas included Longford (1), Donegal (1) and the Dublin suburb of Howth (1).

Since the service was first piloted in September 2008, a total of 1,488 alerts have been made to the confidential hotline with 222 calls made in May 2009.

Reacting to the figures, David Lane, co-ordinator of the Local Drugs Task Force in Cork, said despite the fall-off in calls to the service, a number of recent high-profile incidents confirmed the threat of heroin and cocaine abuse in the county.

“There hasn’t been a drop in people accessing treatment services. Over 150 people in Cork are currently in treatment for heroin abuse. The waiting lists are very short these days but there are issues there,” said Mr Lane.

“We have two clinics in Cork city, but we are looking to have another one in place within two months, and a service in Tralee by the summer because the issues are there.”

* The Dial To Stop Drug Dealing service, due to be re-launched on Thursday, can be contacted anonymously on 1800 220 220.