Heroin abuse continues to spread

The use of heroin outside Dublin continues to grow with the spread of the drug putting even more pressure on existing services, according to figures published by Merchants Quay Ireland.

The support centre for heroin users, based in Dublin city centre, recorded 20,847 client visits last year, a rise of around 2,000 from 2011.

In all, 3,634 people accessed its needle exchange programme last year, including 558 new service clients.

MQI’s 2012 review also shows that its homeless food service provided more than 76,500 meals last year while its primary healthcare service for homeless people made 3,316 individual client interventions.

Another troubling statistic was the number of people accessing MQI services in Dublin and through its outreach programmes that hailed from other parts of the country.

MQI revealed that 25% of admissions to its St Francis Farm detox unit in Carlow came from Munster, while 30% of admissions to the St Francis Farm drug-free rehabilitation programme in the same location came from the south-east.

Some 46% of people accessing the drug-free rehabilitation service at High Park in Dublin were from outside that region.

MQI chief executive Tony Geoghegan said the figures showed the need for detox and rehab facilities across the country as heroin use spreads.

“It is indicative of the lack of detox facilities around the country,” he said, adding that “a lack of options” and new drug networks meant people ended up travelling to Dublin for treatment.

MQI’s Midlands Harm Reduction Outreach Service, which operates in a number of counties including Laois and Westmeath, worked with an average of 130 clients a month in 2012 and provided more than 3,000 needle exchange interventions.

Only a minority of clients accessing MQI services used only heroin. Figures show that 75% of needle exchange users reported using a number of different drugs, while the combination of heroin, benzodiazepines, and alcohol was the most common mix of substances used by clients presenting at MQI’s services around the country last year.

Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton will launch the MQI annual review in Dublin today and Mr Geoghegan said he was hopeful she would listen to his call for increased support for services. He said the issue of alcohol misuse needed to be tackled at a national level by government and warned about the ramifications of further cuts to funding — “our statutory funding has been on a downward curve since 2008,” he said, meaning MQI has lost €750,000 in funding since then, at a time when its detox facilities cost €1.3m a year.