HEROIN SEIZURES in Cork have increased fortyfold in the last four years while those seeking treatment for addiction to the drug have increased by a figure of more than 25 in a 10-year period, a meeting was told yesterday.
Senior gardaí along with medical experts and people working with drug addicts painted a grim picture of the escalating heroin problem in Cork with at least four deaths from suspected drug overdose in the city in the past five weeks.
Details of the growing problem were outlined at a Cork City Council Joint Policing Committee meeting. At the session Chief Supt Liam Hayes and Det Insp Ger O’Mahony outlined the heroin problem in the city.
Chief Supt Hayes said that while cannabis remains the narcotic of choice among drug abusers in Cork followed by cocaine and ecstasy, heroin is extending its appeal. The number of heroin detections rose from just four in 2004 to 159 last year with 86 detections already this year.
“In 2007, we had 13 drug-related deaths, six of which were directly related to heroin while last year we had eight heroin deaths. In the past five weeks, we’ve had four drug deaths and we’re still awaiting toxicology reports on those deaths,” said Chief Supt Hayes.
Dr Declan O’Brien of the HSE addiction services painted a similar picture in terms of an exponential rise in those seeking treatment for addiction in recent years.
Dr O’Brien said that when he joined Arbour House in 1996/1997, just four people attended for treatment for heroin addiction but that this rose to 20 in 2001/2002; by 2005/2006 there were some 60 heroin addicts receiving treatment.
In 2007, more than 100 people attended for heroin addiction and similarly in 2008 more than 100 again sought help for heroin addiction. There are over 150 on a waiting list who won’t be seen until next year, said Dr O’Brien.
“Most are smoking heroin, all are using heroin daily and all are spending €100 to €300 a day,” said Dr O’Brien, adding that addicts are paying €50 for a bag of heroin that if taken orally will last for 10 hits. If smoked it will provide five hits and if injected will give two hits.
Those who inject heroin are most likely to wind up dead, unlike those who smoke the drug. Injecting cannot reverse or stop the immediate physical impact if the dose is too strong. Consequently, the addict has just four minutes before suffering respiratory failure, cardiac arrest and death, said Dr O’Brien.
Dr O’Brien’s analysis was also echoed by consultant in emergency medicine at Cork University Hospital (CUH) and Mercy University Hospital Dr Chris Luke. He warned that Cork is likely to have a serious heroin crisis on its hands by next year.
Asked to rate the problem in Cork at the moment on a scale from one to 10, Dr Luke said that he would score the problem at six. But he expected it to reach nine by next year, by which time it would be comparable with the heroin crisis that hit Dublin in the 1980s.
“I saw five cocaine cases at CUH over the weekend and last week I saw five heroin and methadone cases at the Mercy . . . I think now is the time to be alarmist – people need to be very, very afraid because nothing else has worked,” said Dr Luke.
Martin, a recovering heroin addict who works with Narcotics Anonymous, said that the group has been seeing approximately 10-12 new addicts every week over the past six months.
Approximately 80 per cent of these are heroin addicts.
Moreover, he rejected suggestions that heroin addiction was confined to inner-city or working-class areas.
“I know people in shirts and ties who are heroin users. It’s easy to point to Knocknaheeny and Gurranebraher but I know 20 users in Blackrock,” he said.
Lord Mayor of Cork Dara Murphy said that he planned to form a subcommittee to develop a strategy in an attempt to combat the sharp increase of heroin use in the city.
