The Drugs Menace

Part 1 – The Six Counties Award-winning journalist Veronica Guerin was shot dead in Dublin by two people on a motor-bike in the early afternoon of June 26 as she stopped her car at traffic-lights on the Naas dual carriageway. One of the men fired a number of shots from a handgun killing her instantly. Aged 33, she was married to building contractor Graham Turley and the couple had a seven-year-old son, Cathal. She was the first reporter in the history of the 26-Counties to be brutally slain.

In the eyes of her murderers her only ‘crime’ was to doggedly pursue and expose Dublin’s leading criminals, some of whom were suspected of being involved in two previous shooting incidents at her home in the north of the city. In the second of these incidents she was wounded in the right thigh as she opened her front door yet she remained dedicated to both her professional standards and specific investigative mission.

This tragedy has led to intense national anger as fellow journalists were to describe her known killers and their immediate associates as "the untouchables". It is no exaggeration to say that these money-led gangs threaten society as a whole, or that Veronica paid a high price for all of us by placing a public spotlight on the capital’s seedy underworld. Such gangs also exist north of the border and their greed is mainly satisfied by the sale of illicit drugs.

Statistics In Derry, over recent years, what began as infrequent press reports has now become a regular feature of our local media. Without people of the calibre of Veronica Guerin it is difficult to establish the full facts on this dangerous and emotive topic.

However, even though the statistical trends should cause warning bells to be sounded, the issue of illicit drug use has produced a degree of complacency in the knowledge that matters here are not as bad as elsewhere — Britain, 26-Counties, Western Europe or the USA. One must pose the question: ‘But for how much longer ?

The illicit drugs scene is a highly lucrative business in Dublin. The capital has a large number of people dependent on opiates - heroine, methadone and, of special significance, morphine sulphate tablets (‘MSTs’ or ‘Napps’). Over 7,000 persons have sought treatment from the Drug Treatment Centres since 1980. It is estimated that 2,000 clients a year were in contact with drug treatment centres in the greater Dublin area in the early 1990s.

Also highly alarming is the fact that surveys carried out amongst post-primary school children in 1984/5 and 1991/93 indicated that there was an increase in experimentation for most illicit drugs (Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin,1994).

Outside Dublin there is also a vibrant club and rave scene and most recent reports have indicated Ecstasy use in Cork, Galway, Limerick and Kilkenny. LSD and amphetamines would also seem to be available in these areas (Hot Press, Vol 19, No 10, 1995).

Information Gap Only by presenting the known facts can others arrive at realistic conclusions. One must look to the professionals, on-the-ground, who are involved in the work of developing appropriate responses. Many are dependent on them for constructive guidance. Of one thing we can all be certain, there is a paramount need for more information that is up-to-date, reliable and accessible.

Providing such information is not without difficulties. There are arguments and counter-arguments; statistics, myths, opinions both informed and ill-informed, theories, models and a wide menu of approaches.

Few professionals can escape popular concerns. Too many people feel useless because of a general lack of knowledge on this very emotive subject, which above all else should be viewed in terms of personal health.

But there are wider and deeper issues also involved as the contemporary ‘drugs culture’ can lead to a dramatic increase in all forms of crime, corruption of enterprise and officialdom, and even in some countries the undermining, or elimination of democracy itself.

One could write at length on its global implications but a local focus is more relevant in so far as that pernicious ‘culture’ has not really taken firm root locally, as yet. Anyone who has communicated with journalists, public representatives or affected families, in our capital city, Dublin, cannot but conclude that Derry and the Six Counties, in general, have been spared the same disastrous effects of the ‘drugs culture’, and can only conclude, we’ve been lucky, so far. We therefore have the luxury of having been given a breathing-space, ironically as a direct consequence of "The Troubles" which witnessed high-profile activity on a daily basis by the British army and RUC, on the streets, with powers to stop and search, etc.

While borders came down elsewhere in Europe, that line across Ireland was manned hourly by the diverse forces of both states. However, drug seizures was never really their priority whereas political dissent was always top of their respective agendas.

One is not being complacent or indifferent when venturing to point out that drug-taking in the Six Counties is different from that in the major British cities and the 26 Counties. In this region the most commonly used illegal drug is cannabis, which some experts argue should be legalised. The continuing increase in the use of drugs commonly associated with the club and rave scene are: - Ecstasy, LSD and amphetamine sulphate (speed). Magic mushrooms (when prepared), must also be added to the list.

An even younger age-group may also misuse solvents and amyl and butyl nitrites (poppers). But in the main the official figures indicate the current low levels of heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine, ie "hard-drugs". Every doctor in the Six Counties is required to notify the Chief Medical Officer of the DHSS in writing if they attend a patient whom they consider to be, or have reasonable grounds to suspect is, addicted to any of certain specified controlled drugs.

The following table speaks for itself but the future could become much bleaker:

Table 	  (Six Counties) 
Year               1991     1992     1993     1994

Registered 
addicts          51       60       80       87

New 
Notifications 11       23       32       29

A summary of the situation in Britain shows the levels of drug abuse we could yet face. There were 28,000 notified drug addicts in 1993, a 13 per cent rise on the 1992 figures; 11,600 of the 1993 cases were newly notified addicts (20 per cent up on 1992); 68,000 drug offenders in 1993 (11 per cent up on 1992); 86,000 drug seizures by police and Customs in 1993 (19 per cent up on 1992).

The results of the 1992 British Crime Survey of over 7,000 people aged between 12 and 59 years living in private households in England and Wales showed that 17 per cent reported lifetime use of illicit drugs; 6 per cent reported taking drugs in the previous year; 28 per cent of those aged 16-29 reported lifetime use; and 14 per cent of those in the same age-group reported taking drugs in the previous year. Males in all age-groups, except 12-15 year-olds and 45-59 year-olds, were more likely than females to report illicit drug use.

It is noteworthy that, in the Six Counties, heroin remains the main drug of misuse officially recorded, with many of the addicts self-injecting. However, specialists elsewhere often refer to the need to apply a multiplier in order to get a ‘truer’ estimate, but there would appear to be no consensus on what the multiplier should be.

It is significant that by the end of 1994 there were no seizures of crack cocaine recorded in the Six-Counties. Cocaine (Coke) statistics reveal a rise from 52.40 grams seized in 1989 to 1,092 grams seized in 1994. LSD in the same period rose from 485 doses to 15,392, whereas MDMA (Ecstasy) does not appear in the statistics until 1991, then logged at 2,711 tablets, rising to 23,853 tabs in 1994.

Throughout the period under review (1989-1994) annual arrests were recorded as 440, 429, 453, 610, 976, and 1,196. From all this it is clear that the number of arrests for drug offences and the quantity of drugs seized has increased since 1989. Community concern is real as there is some evidence that the proportion of young people who have been offered drugs has increased over the last four years.

It is difficult to answer the question, "How many young people in the Six Counties are taking illegal drugs ?"

Many may be shocked to learn that the Health Promotion Agency claims that up to a third of young people may have experimented with illegal drugs. However the number of young people taking these drugs on a regular basis is much smaller. — Fionnbarra Ó Dochartaigh (Next month: Motivation, Risks and Signs of Drug-Taking )
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