Heroin deepens its grip outside capital

HEROIN is deepening its grip across the country with record numbers of new addicts outside Dublin looking for help.

Figures seen by the Irish Examiner show the number of heroin users seeking treatment for the first time more than doubled between 2002 and 2008, trebling in many regions.

The Government’s top drug adviser said the rise was “worrying” and warned that, if the problem was left unchecked, it “could get out of control, as it did in Dublin”.