Addicts likely to suffer as plan for cocaine rehab clinics axed.

It was confirmed yesterday that the HSE's financial overrun means the planned rehabilitation treatment clinics, due to be opened this year in Dublin and Cork, will be ditched.

This is despite a recent report showing cocaine use in Ireland has nearly doubled in the last five years.

It means that there remains just one clinic in Galway set up to solely cater for cocaine treatment while many have to go to general drug treatment services instead.

And demand for cocaine addiction treatment is much higher in the south and south east of the country where there are no specialised clinics.

The decision to shelve the two clinics, due for opening this year, is because the HSE needs to stay within budget for 2008, according to Joe Doyle, National Drug Strategy Co-ordinator.

Mr Doyle revealed that last year cocaine abuse was identified as the main drug problem for 770 people treated at the HSE's general drug treatment clinics. Of these patients, 183 were in the south west and 141 in the south east of the country.

A recent report from the national Advisory Committee on Drugs revealed that just over 5pc of the population said they had used the drug -- up from 3pc five years ago.

In the absence of clinics specifically catering for cocaine users, addicts have to rely on existing HSE treatment services where staff are being re-trained.

Mr Doyle disclosed the information in reply to a parliamentary question from Fine Gael TD Catherine Byrne, who asked about the budget for the clinics this year and the number of staff employed.

Mr Doyle said the HSE had set up the clinic in Galway in response to emerging needs.

"A review by the clinical team of the Galway initiative identified a lack of attendance by clients.

"The staff team decided that the evening session should be retained to offer an out of hours service open to all referrals, which would include primary cocaine users," he said.

In this reply Mr Doyle said it was not possible to provide a breakdown for specific services offered to cocaine users as they were contained in the HSE's general addiction budget.

There were 856 people referred to the addiction services around the country last year for cocaine addiction -- just 24 were on the east coast .

The numbers were also low in the midlands (32) and the west (39). This compared to 185 in the south west and 152 in the south.

Source: Eilish O'Regan, The Irish Independent, 12/11/2008