There is probably very little new information to be found in Dealing with the Nightmare, a new report on drug use and intervention strategies in the south inner city of Dublin, published yesterday by Community Response. But it provides a vivid and comprehensive picture of communities in critical despair and it contains a great deal of common sense about how those communities, supported by State and other resources, might best set about tackling the devastating problems - which contribute to, and derive from, the current epidemic of heroin abuse in the city. It should certainly be closely read by all politicians - national and local - who would lay claim to any concern for the social fabric of the nation or its capital city.
It identifies with no difficulty the social and economic deprivation which underlies the current catastrophe, a phenomenon which has been identified in many other cities around the world where drug abuse has taken lethal hold. Its pages ring with the authenticity of the voices of those living in the community, many of them striving to deal with the problems, some with barely the capacity to deal with everyday life. It points to the decay and dereliction of much local housing and the appalling lack of social amenities such as green space and other recreational facilities.
It makes clear again what other studies have revealed in many other places so afflicted there is no simple or single answer which can resolve the drugs crisis. The strategies required must deal with both the supply side and the demand side of drug trafficking. They must be seen to tackle the decay, dereliction and socio economic deprivation. There must be much more effort put into prevention and more and better treatment programmes and social support services. Above all, there must be more active involvement of members of the communities in all strategies and activities undertaken to deal with the problems.
From conflict resolution to social diversion, from education and training to treatment and rehabilitation, from local involvement to State support, Dealing with the Nightmare covers a great deal of ground comprehensively and in depth. Good reasons are given for each of the recommendations made. Local voices with first hand experience of the crisis are carefully listened to, and the report is written with the humility of empathy rather than with the arrogance of sympathy.
To implement its many recommendations will not be cheap. There is no doubt that such resources as have been made available to deal with the drugs problem thus far are so inadequate that that the crisis cannot even be contained, never mind resolved. But those who would argue against the provision of substantially - greater resources than are now provided, must ask themselves what is the current cost, in misery, in crime, in death, in law enforcement, in societal conflict and collapse, of the drugs related problems delineated in this new report. The body politic will ignore the nightmare at its peril a drugs crisis uncontained and unresolved will surely grow and spread.