The Tallaght Local Drugs Task Force Strategic Plan 2008-2013 has highlighted emerging drug misuse problems in the Tallaght area, such as the increase in cocaine use and the trend of using more than one drug.
It found that while the number of unemployed people seeking treatment for drug addiction fell by 5 per cent between 2004 and 2006, the number of employed people seeking help rose by 6 per cent.
The review, led by the drugs force’s acting co-ordinator Grace Hill, found that treatment service opening hours may have to be extended because these people were at work during the day.
“Anecdotal evidence suggests that this client group may spend many thousands of euros on drugs and alcohol each month,” it said.
Focus groups interviewed for the report called for more flexible service provision to recognise different patterns of drug misuse such as “speed-balling”, which is cocaine taken before heroin, and the practice of mixing cocaine and alcohol.
Service users recommended mentoring systems for children at risk, because of a growing prevalence of cocaine use among children.
The report said that children were growing up “in disadvantaged and disempowered homes in which drug use is normalised and inter-generational and they, in turn, become high-risk for drug misuse, early school leaving and premature death by suicide”.
It also highlighted the need to address long-term methadone maintenance.
“Methadone treatment data suggests that large numbers of people are on long-term methadone maintenance and do not move through treatment into detoxification and recovery,” it said. Nine years of methadone maintenance was not uncommon.
“This is a national issue and not confined to Tallaght.”
Focus groups also called for the regulation of the prescribing of benzodiazepine and for more provision for chaotic drug misusers in street outreach and drop-in centres.
The areas in Tallaght with the highest number of people presenting for drug addiction treatment between 2004 and 2006 were Fettercairn, Jobstown, Killinarden, Kiltipper and Tymon.
The report found that heroin was still the main problem drug in 2006 with 275 cases seeking treatment, compared with 47 seeking treatment for alcohol and 43 seeking help for cocaine abuse.
Two-thirds of the cases seeking help were using more than one drug.
The report also highlighted other challenges facing Tallaght, such as unemployment levels that were higher than the national average.
Killinarden had an unemployment level of 21 per cent in 2006, while Fettercairn had a 20 per cent unemployment level.
The early school-leaving problem in Tallaght was also focused on in the report. Some two-thirds of children from Killinarden leave school before the age of 15.
Just 26 per cent of Tallaght’s population studied at third level in 2006, compared with 50 per cent in Dublin city.
Those most likely to continue to third level-education were from Jobstown, Kiltipper, Kingswood and Springfield.
Tallaght has a young population, with 63 per cent under the age of 44, according to the 2006 Census. However, the age profile of people seeking drug addiction treatment has risen, with an associated decrease in the number of people under 24 seeking treatment.
In 2006, some 235 people under 30 sought help for addiction, while 159 people over 30 sought help.
The report outlined the drugs force strategy for the next five years with a strong focus on the needs of the children and young people most at risk of substance misuse.
Ms Hill said she looked forward to working with all the stakeholders in responding to local drug misuse issues “in an sustainable and constructive way”.
The creation of stronger links between gardaí, service providers and the community was also emphasised, as well as the development of the “Dial to Stop Drugs” campaign.
Source: Alison Healy, The Irish Times, 24/11/2008
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