Sir, - May I make an appeal through your newspaper on behalf of the many young people who are seeking treatment for drug addiction in the Tallaght area?
The recent scare about contaminated heroin being available on the streets of Dublin brought with it an avalanche of people seeking treatment. No matter what the reason or the motivation, people are facing up to their problems and seeking our help and despite the willingness of the community treatment centres to take on new clients, our hands are tied because there are no treatment cards available in the Tallaght area.
Tallaght is the only area of Dublin that does not have an emergency provision for drug treatment and there are not enough dispensing places available. We urgently need more pharmacy places and for the opening up of existing facilities to cater for the ever-increasing numbers seeking help. The South Western Area Health Board has made efforts to address the problem and are still seeking a solution.
In the meantime we can offer support through counselling and primary healthcare and hope that people will avail of the service while waiting for treatment. We do not want to lose our young people and it is vital that people who are presenting for treatment be offered some little hope of a new beginning.
We are asking every pharmacy in the Tallaght and surrounding areas to look hard at the amount of treatment places they are providing and to increase the numbers where possible or to become involved if not already doing so. - Yours, etc.,
Mick Duff, Co-ordinator, St Aengus Community Action Group Ltd., Tallaght, Dublin 24.