National drugs strategy - We’ve drawn enough lines in the sand

MOST of us are happy enough to accept that drug abuse is a growing problem, but at the same time we don’t pay it too much attention as it does not impinge on our lives.

It is more a shadow than a presence.

Just like yesterday’s tragedy when an Air France Airbus 330 disappeared with 228 people on board, including three Irish citizens, we can all accept it as real. We can recognise that it is terrible for those who lost loved ones but, because it does not touch most of us directly, we move on quickly.

Maybe that avoidance, possibly out of fear, is a luxury we cannot afford for too much longer as the National Drugs Strategy (NDS) 2009-2016 shows how much more dangerous the crime empires have become.

This spiral is accelerating so quickly that one of the cornerstone objectives of the new NDS is the establishment of practices to protect families and communities from the violence. The attacks on individuals or property are now so frequent that some communities feel unable to participate in schemes to combat the problem.

Twice in the last year we saw examples of the new callousness, the sense of immunity and indifference that allows these gangs operate.

The first was the murder of Shane Geoghegan. Shane’s death was terrifying enough, but that someone would set out to murder a person without being certain of their identity shows how far things have gone.

The other wake-up call came when Roy Collins was assassinated, supposedly on orders given from a prison cell, just because a relative gave evidence in court.

Roy Collins’ murder was an attack on this State, this society and our future, and unless we are prepared to respond effectively we can expect many more tragedies like Roy Collins’ murder.

An equally disturbing revelation in the NDS is that despite a huge increase in the quantity of drugs seized – way beyond anything anticipated – it has not become more difficult to source drugs. Despite the successes of the gardaí and other agencies, the drug gangs are outpacing any efforts made to control them.

Immediately after Roy Collins’ murder the Government responded by bringing forward legislation regarding the collection of evidence and its admissibility in court. This may have had a ring of action about it, but it was quickly enough seen for what it really was – showboating that debases our parliament – when the Government shelved plans for a super prison.

The €40 million Thornton Hall project – €11m on consultancy fees – has been mothballed at a time when our prisons are scandalously overcrowded. So, what’s the point of these new laws if we have nowhere to put those who will be convicted under them?

In the two weeks since the Ryan report was published our public discourse has been informed by anger and outrage, contrition and considerable and justified shame. One of the truly damning aspects of the report was that only the children of the poor fell into the hands of the clerical rapists, torturers and abusers stalking our religious orders’ facilities.

That principle applies more or less equally today to the drugs’ crisis.

It is primarily the half-educated, the unemployed and unemployable who fall victim to drug gangs. There are exceptions, but the great majority ensnared come from the least advantaged communities. Are we really going to abandon them like we abandoned the children remembered at last by Judge Ryan?

Are we really going to just draw another line in the sand after the next Shane Geoghegan or Roy Collins?