Pubdate: Tue, 6 Jan 2009
Source: Westmeath Examiner (Ireland)
Contact:  2009 Westmeath Examiner
Website: http://www.westmeathexaminer.ie/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4923
Author: Eoghan McConnell
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

UP TO 200 USE HEROIN IN MULLINGAR

The Midland Regional Drugs Task Force (MRDTF) has applied for a mobile
needle exchange and is calling for the creation of rehabilitation
clinics for the region in 2009.

There could be between 150 and 200 people using heroin in Mullingar,
Open Door Project's Lead Addiction Counsellor told the Westmeath
Examiner this week.

"I suspect it is somewhere in the region of 150 heroin users in
Mullingar, possibly 150 to 200," said Mr Declan Hughes who works on a
daily basis with addicts at the drop-in-centre.

Mr Hughes said he did not want to be sensational about the issue and
had made the estimate through his experience working with people
suffering through substance abuse in Mullingar.

He believes there has been a rise in the number of people using heroin
in and around Mullingar in recent times.

He also thinks there is a growing trade illegally sold prescription
medicines and methadone in the area.

The rise in heroin abuse is most likely related to an increased in
availability coupled with the fact that more people are ending up "in
the poverty trap", he claimed.

He believes that the majority of heroin users in Mullingar are smoking
the drug, although some have progressed to intravenous drug use which
brings a risk of blood borne viruses.

Last month he referred a number of intravenous drug users to Merchants
Quay in Dublin for treatment.

According to the Counsellor and AIT lecturer, Mullingar has a "culture
of heroin abuse" which may not be evident to the average person on the
street, "It's hidden, it's a subculture", he explained.

At present, people from Mullingar and Longford who are taking
methadone while coming off heroin are being taken by taxi to attend a
methadone clinic in Athlone.

The MRDTF has submitted a request to the National Drugs Strategy Team
to provide the "harm reduction services" in the form of a mobile
needle exchange to intravenous drug users in the area.

A recent report from the National Advisory Committee on Drugs (NACD)
revealed drugs users from Westmeath, Offaly, Longford and Laois are
presenting at Dublin's Merchant Quay Needle Exchange.

On the subject of operating a needle exchange from local outreach
centres, the report said it "has been approved in principle as a pilot
study to assess the potential to develop needle exchange in a family
and community based context."

Westmeath County Council Chairman, Cllr Joe Whelan said there is a
need for more addiction counsellors and rehabilitation centres as
there are no rehabilitation centres in the Midlands at present.

The historical focus in relation to the drugs issue has been in cities
but the scourge of drugs is now prevalent right throughout the
country, explained Cllr Whelan.

He said the HSE and Midland Regional Drug Task Force are both seeking
funding from the Government to provide rehabilitation clinics for the
Midlands and reduce waiting lists for people seeking treatment.

In relation to a needle exchange, he said the harm reduction measure
has to be viewed as a fact of life.

The NACD Needle Exchange Provision report said: "A number of needle
exchanges were established and are operated by the voluntary sector
with HSE resource support. The largest of these services is provided
by Merchants Quay Ireland, the busiest exchange nationally catering
for an average of 150 to 170 clients per day. The county of origin of
attending clients is recorded and individuals have presented to MQI
needle exchange from Antrim, Armagh, Cork, Donegal, Dublin (City and
County), Kerry, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Longford, Louth, Mayo,
Meath, Offaly, Wicklow, and Westmeath."

The absence of national, regional and local estimates of the number of
injecting drug users poses challenges to planning service delivery for
the group.

However, using the National Drug Treatment Reporting System, and the
Central Treatment List, gives a clear indication that there are
networks of injecting drug users in all Regional Drug Task Force
areas. The recent review of the current provision of needle exchange
in Ireland clearly highlights the fact that despite the identification
of service needs and the inclusion of specific actions in the National
Drugs Strategy on development of services, provision is still largely
concentrated in local drug task force areas with inadequate coverage
at a national level despite the evidence of drug misuse throughout
Ireland.

Needle exchange programmes are currently provided in only four of the
ten Regional Drug Task Force Areas and these are concentrated in the
Local Drug Task Force areas around large cities and towns.

Within the six Regional Drug Task Force areas with no needle exchange
coverage, only three are in the process of developing such services
(Western RDTF, North Eastern RDTF, and Midlands RDTF).

It is important that sterile injecting equipment is available at the
right place, at the right time. None of these areas provides 24-hour
access to sterile injecting equipment, and none provides weekend
coverage, the report disclosed. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake