True cost of cocaine in our society

CONCERNS over the direct link between cocaine and violence in local communities will be heightened by a major new report showing that the killer drug is destroying lives in all sections of Irish society.

According to the second Overview of Cocaine Use in Ireland, treatment of addicts and the number of arrests and seizures have gone up significantly in recent years.

Community groups at the coalface can be forgiven for accusing the Government of doing little to address the cocaine crisis. Evidence of the explosion is seenevery day in headlines of drug wars, killings, and ofgarda seizures.