Cocaine deaths - Tackle this issue or face an epidemic

THE chairman of the National Advisory Committee on Drugs, Dr Des Corrigan, yesterday highlighted the cocaine-related deaths of five young people.

Three died of cocaine toxicity, while the partner of one of those jumped to his death after taking cocaine, and the other young man died a result of a cocktail of drugs, including cocaine.

This should be a grim wake-up call on the pernicious threat that cocaine poses to society. It is a life and death issue for many young people, who are perilously ignorant of the dangers involved. Those who recklessly categorise cocaine as a recreational drug are playing down the dangers in an irresponsible way.

Cocaine is not only a highly addictive drug, but also a very dangerous one. It can kill people the first time they use it, as it may lead to heart complications, especially when mixed with alcohol.

It is particularly dangerous for people with a heart condition. But it can also be lethal for those who may think they have a perfectly healthy heart but suffer from some undiagnosed problems.

The quantities of cocaine seized jumped by 750% between 2002 and 2006, and the number of people reporting for treatment for cocaine use spiralled by more than tenfold between 1999 and 2005. The number of cocaine-related offences quadruped from 2002 to 2005.

“If you do a line of cocaine in Foxrock,” the outgoing Justice Minister Michael McDowell warned, “you are personally responsible for the murder of somebody in Clondalkin or Coolock.” There was a time, not so very long ago, when these illicit drug problems were largely confined to Dublin, but now they can be found in Carlow, Cork, Drogheda, Limerick, or Portlaoise.

Last September, there were sensational reports of cocaine being passed openly at graduation balls in counties Meath and Louth. One young man left a graduation ball in Drogheda and was found dead shortly afterwards with cocaine in his bloodstream.

This is not just a problem affecting some underprivileged people. This so-called designer drug seems to have an appeal to all classes. Traces of cocaine were even found in the Dáil toilets last year. It is a serious problem that can strike anywhere, and we should all be acutely aware of that stark reality.

Some young people are lulled into a false sense of security by the description of cocaine as a recreation drug. This is the modern equivalent of that deadly antisocial practice once called “joy riding”.

How many people have to die before we face up to the reality? Noel Ahern, the Minister of State with responsibility for drug strategy, has candidly admitted not only that the war on drugs in not being won, but that it cannot be won. We should immediately ensure that its harmful implications are not minimised by the careless use of trendy terminology.

In our Celtic Tiger economy both parents have been encouraged to work with the result that more and more young adolescents are being left to entertain themselves without proper supervision. Unless we get our act together as a society to tackle this issue through a multifaceted approach of education and legislation, we could find ourselves facing a horrific epidemic.