Madam, – I feel compelled to reply to Conor Lally’s report (“Drug tests in jails show widespread abuse”, September 28th).
To assume you can quantify drug use from urinalysis results is incorrect: one use of cannabis a month will give the same result as using the drug two or three times daily. Smoking a half bag of heroin every four days will give you the same result as injecting 12 bags daily. In fact, taking a Solpadeine tablet for pain relief will also give you the same result.
Mr Lally has also failed to separate out the random urine samples, drug treatment samples and pre-treatment samples. The vast majority of urinalysis is still done as part of drug treatment provision; hence illicit drug use will be much more common in these urines than the non-drug treatment population.
Also, all patients entering prison who identify themselves as having a drug addiction problem will have a urinalysis done in order to access the methadone detox programme; and so these samples reflect their drug use in the community – not within the prison.
Furthermore, the drug treatment policy adapted by the Irish Prison Service has led to the elimination of the injecting and needle sharing within the prison setting with the consequent reduction in the spread of HIV. The prison is now the leader in engaging new patients into drug treatment, often engaging patients who have been failed by community based-treatment services.
The drug treatment policy has also led to a major reduction in the incidence of post-release overdoses since there is a strong emphasis on continuity of care between prison services and the community services .
The facts of drug use in Mountjoy are as follows: the injecting culture has been eliminated; all patients who have a drug addiction problem have access to all drug treatment options available to them in the community; all patients receiving treatment are linked with community services; and there is a marked reduction in drug overdoses and death following release. Yes, prisoners still manage to access illicit drugs, but there is no evidence that drug use within the prison context has increased and certainly access is at much reduced levels than in the community.
Treatment services need continuing support and funding but have been, in the prison context, transformed – for the better – beyond recognition in recent years. I am not a fan of our present Government, but it has to be said that the funding and priority given to drug treatment within our prison services is one of their successes and to be commended. Unfortunately such stories rarely make the front page. – Yours, etc,