THERE HAS been a big fall in the number of Garda drug seizures over the last 15 months, prompting suggestions that the recession has seriously affected the demand for illegal drugs from recreational users.
Garda sources also believe that some of the main drugs gangs have scaled back their activities until they see how the first prosecutions unfold under covert surveillance powers being used by the Garda.
The total value of drugs seized by the Garda last year was just under €39 million.
This compares with total seizures in 2008 of €202 million and in 2007 of €169 million.
The figures for 2007 and 2008 are inflated by the inclusion of two large cocaine hauls that were destined for the UK but were intercepted in Irish waters in each of the two years.
The 2007 haul found in Dunlough Bay, Co Cork, was valued at €108 million. The 2008 haul, found on a boat 320km off the south coast, was officially valued at €105 million.
When these seizures are stripped out of the figures, the value of drugs seized in 2007 was €61 million and in 2008 was €97 million.
This means the value of drugs seized last year was 60 per cent lower than 2008 and 30 per cent lower than 2007.
The new drug seizure data compiled by the Garda must, for legal purposes, reflect the minimum street value of the drugs seized.
However, the actual street value of the hauls, after they are bulked up with glucose and other mixing agents, can be three or four times higher than the official Garda value.
Garda sources say while it is very difficult to be certain why the seizure figures have fallen so sharply, they believe the recession has greatly reduced the demand for drugs.
They say the drugs trade, like the wider economy, has contracted.
“You would have had lots of young men working in construction and other areas earning up to €1,000 a week during the boom and spending a couple of hundred euro on drugs every weekend,” said one Garda source.
“Many of them have now lost their jobs and they just haven’t got that kind of money any more.”
Other sources say while chronic drug users would steal to feed their habits, most recreational users would reduce or stop their drug use if they lost their jobs.
“Most of the demand for drugs comes from recreational users; the drug addicts feeding their habit through crime would only keep a portion of the drugs trade going,” said one source.
A number of senior officers who spoke to The Irish Times also believe new anti-gangland measures introduced last July may have persuaded some drugs gangs to scale down their dealing.
The measures allow gardaí use evidence gathered covertly, including wire and phone taps and hidden camera footage, as evidence in gang trials.
Other measures introduced last July have also provided for the use of the non-jury Special Criminal Court more often for gang trials.
A number of cases progressed by gardaí under the new provisions have been sent to the DPP.
Many senior officers believe more astute gangs are waiting to see how those cases progress so they can familiarise themselves with the Garda’s new tactics before resuming full-scale dealing.
“This could be why the seizures are down; some of them are just biding their time,” said one source.
More heroin than any other drug was seized in 2009. The overall fall in the value of all drugs seized was down to the greatly reduced quantity of recreational drugs, including cocaine and cannabis, in circulation.