US airstrikes dent sale of heroin in Ireland

AMERICAN airstrikes on a major opium growing region in Afghanistan and the rise in cannabis “grow houses” has been attributed to a huge fall in the use of heroin in Cork.

Gardaí have reported that, for the first few months of this year, heroin was scarce on the streets of Cork, compared to previous years when it was gaining a foothold and contributing to a number of overdose deaths.

Supt Charlie Barry, who is in charge of policing on the southside of the city, said recent US bombings in Afghanistan had put a big dent in the worldwide supply of opium, from which heroin was made, and that obviously had an effect on the amount available in Cork.

Supt Barry said cannabis was now by far the most dominant drug available on the streets of the city.

His counterpart on the northside of the city, Supt Con Cadogan, said the recession was also a factor.

Supt Cadogan told a Joint Policing Committee meeting that heroin and cocaine were now too expensive for most people.

As a result they had turned to growing their own cannabis, he said.

Some people had purchased cannabis-growing kits from headshops before they were banned last year.

Others “were also buying kits and seeds over the internet”, Supt Cadogan said.

Gardaí announced earlier this week that, in the past 10 months under the auspices of Operation Nitrogen, they had raided 60 major cannabis growing factories nationally and seized plants with a street value in excess of €6 million.

Meanwhile, gardaí in Cork have also noticed a trend in the incidence of drunkenness, which they believe is also directly associated with the recession.

According to Supt McPolin, who is in charge of policing the city centre, public order problems are surfacing much earlier on weekend nights than before.

He said young people were now stretching their money by drinking cheap supermarket alcohol at home before venturing into city centre nightclubs.

As a result, he said, many were intoxicated before they even arrived in the city centre.

Supt McPolin said that drunkenness was prevalent from about 9pm to midnight, whereas previously it was more likely to occur between midnight and 3am.