Drug outreach and needle exchange services in Dublin say there’s been a strong uptake of clean crack pipes by service users in response to a surge in availability and consumption of the drug in recent months.
Similar to the approach taken to needle exchange, which has been available in the city for decades, sterile crack pipes are distributed as part of a harm reduction approach to problem drug use.
Merchants Quay Ireland, which opened the country’s first needle exchange back in 1991 and now offers a range of services for people who are homeless and experiencing addiction issues, began providing clean crack pipes from its centre on the south quays on 13 July and gave out 69 in the scheme’s first week of operation.
Ana Liffey Drug Project, which runs an outreach needle and syringe programme based out of Middle Abbey Street, began handing out its reusable crack pipes in April 2017.
Head of Services with ALDP Dawn Russell said 287 of the items have now been handed out – both in Dublin and in the Mid West of the country, where the service also operates.
Of those, almost half – 128 – have been handed out between March and July of this year (the majority in Dublin).
While most users smoke the drug, Russell said staff were also engaging with a very small cohort of people who are neck-injecting the drug, which she described as a “very risky activity”. Around 3 to 5 people are regularly taking the drug this way, she said.
Source: Michelle Hennessy and Daragh Brophy, The Journal.ie, 23/07/18
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