A CITY community worker has warned that the problem of drugs in Dublin is set to get dramatically worse.
Mr Eddie D'Arcy, who runs the youth resource centre at Neilstown, said at the Labour Party's Dublin regional conference on Saturday that the recent anti crime measures introduced by the Government would not curb the drugs' problem by themselves. It would take a huge injection of resources to counteract heroin abuse.
At present only addicts who injected themselves were taken in for treatment. The majority of the 300 to 400 addicts in the Neilstown area, who smoked heroin, received no treatment. They engaged in robbery, prostitution and became dealers themselves to feed their heroin habit, which cost £200 to £300 a week.
It would take more resources and a long term commitment to treatment and counselling to wean them off the drug. Many would seek treatment to make themselves free of the drug, but there was no point because the treatment facilities were not available, Mr D'Arcy said.
The conference was told by the Minister for Education, Ms Breathnach, that the community as well as the authorities must cooperate, but there was a reluctance in many communities to accept alternative methodone treatment clinics. Action might have been lacking in the past but it was being taken now. A preventative programme aimed at primary schools would soon be launched by her Department.
Mr D'Arcy said programmes aimed at young children were welcome, but they should not be left to teachers, who often knew less about drugs than the children. The communities should be involved in these programmes.
Up to three years ago, he said, most young people in his area smoked hash (cannabis). Ecstasy arrived three years ago and then heroin. It was little more than "a public relations exercise" for the Garda to be seizing quantities of cannabis. There would be more available the following week. The big problem was heroin.
"Young people say it is a great experience, but after a month of use it is essential to have it just to feel normal. The situation is going to get dramatically worse unless something is done on a large scale about heroin."
The problem had to be tackled by reducing the demand for heroin through detoxification programmes, alternative treatment using methodone and other drugs, and by community support services that would encourage youngsters to give up the habit.
He called for co operation between community leaders and the police. If suspected pushers were evicted it could simply move the problem to somewhere else.
Mr Joe Costello TD said there were signs that communities were at last beginning to co operate. "We have introduced tough policing programmes, but the political will does not appear to be there. We also need the professional will. Only 1.5 per cent of the Garda force is geared to dealing with the drugs problem, while 80 per cent of crime is said to be drug related. The Garda must be told that they have a job to do and they should put more resources into it."
The conference, which is one of a series to be held around the country in the run up to the next general election, was addressed by Mr Peter Cassells, general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, who said Labour must reject persistent calls for deregulation of every aspect of business. These calls must be countered by demands for more skills so that workers' chances of employment were improved. The trade union movement was good at organising workers on factory floors, but in future it would be dealing more with contract and part time employees.