Prison chaplains have expressed concern that new Government measures to eradicate heroin from prisons are not backed by support such as counselling or rehabilitation. A new strategy of compulsory drug-testing for prisoners, along with addiction counselling and treatment, is due to be implemented in prisons this year. This follows a pledge in the Fianna Fail/Progressive Democrat Programme for Government that steps would be taken to "completely end" all heroin use in both jails and places of detention. However, prison chaplains yesterday said the plan was "ludicrous" given the lack of treatment or counselling services available. [continues 382 words]
Freddie Brookins will not be allowed to vote against George W. Bush on November 2nd. Although he received a pardon from the current Texas governor, Rick Perry, and a substantial cash settlement for the four years of a 20-year sentence he served in prison, Brookins's record has not yet been cleared, making him ineligible. Brookins believes that once Tom Coleman, the undercover narcotics agent who falsely accused him of selling cocaine, stands trial on perjury charges, the slate will be wiped clean. [continues 1128 words]
A child and adolescent psychiatrist with the Mid-Western Health Board said yesterday that children as young as 10 are pooling their lunch money to buy drugs instead of sandwiches. Dr Yvonne Bailey told a board meeting in Limerick she has dealt with children as young as 10 who have bought cannabis. "I'm seeing 10-year-olds who, instead of buying a school lunch, club together to buy a 10-spot (a UKP10 quantity)," said Dr Bailey. "I also know of kids younger than 13 who have been taken drunk into casualty." [continues 367 words]
The South Eastern Health Board confirmed yesterday it has received the go-ahead to import and supply cannabis extract for pain relief among cancer patients at Waterford Regional Hospital. The board said it had obtained "the necessary licences" from the Irish Medicines Board to use the extract in clinical trials. It will be some time yet, however, before the trials begin. The SEHB said the trials were at planning stage, and no supplies of the cannabis extract had arrived at the hospital at this point. [continues 203 words]
Colombia's beleaguered human rights defenders recently bid a sad - and, for some, fearful - farewell to Anders Kompass , Mary Robinson's main man in Bogota. Ana Carrigan reports. The village was just a small farming co-operative, tucked away in the folds of the Andes. One day two truckloads of Colombian paramilitaries drove up the road and pulled up in the little square in front of the community store. They rounded up the women and children in the church, then took away the men and shot them, leaving 24 bodies strewn along the road. [continues 720 words]
The first person to successfully complete the Drug Court scheme was yesterday presented with a certificate by Judge Gerard Haughton. The 32-year-old man, who is not being named at the request of the judge and the Courts Service, is the first success in this pilot scheme aimed at giving drug-addicted offenders a chance to break the habit as an alternative to prison. In return, they must adhere to a closely supervised treatment programme under a co-ordinated team of professionals in the probation, health, community, education and justice services. [continues 132 words]
Young drug addicts from all over the world are coming back to life on a 28-acre farm in the countryside near Knock, Co Mayo. In these tranquil surroundings nine addicts are being "healed" in a project run by a religious group, the Cenacolo Community. The Knock Centre is one of 60 houses worldwide which the Cenacolo Community, founded by an Italian nun, Sister Elvira Petrozzi in 1993, operates for youngsters who are chemically dependent. Addicts are routed away from the hell of drugs into a new life based on prayer and work. Such rehabilitation techniques as methadone - a substitute for heroin - are shunned in the Cenacolo method. Cigarettes are taboo, there is no alcohol or material comforts such as radio or television. [continues 333 words]
The children counted down from ten and erupted in cheers, trying fervently to clap hands in woollen mittens that allowed only muffled thuds. Above them, a Christmas tree 40-feet high had burst into light, its brilliant bulbs glowing over carefully decorated branches. Every twinkling star that hung there was tinged with sadness. This year the tree at the junction of Buckingham Street and Killarney Street in Dublin's north inner city bore 132 stars, twice the number when it was first erected six years ago. [continues 285 words]
Cannabis joints were mailed to every TD and senator in the State yesterday by a West of Ireland man leading a campaign for the legalisation of the drug. The idea landed Mr Luke "Ming" Flanagan (29) in Garda custody, however, and last night a Garda spokesman confirmed he had been released without charge and a file would go to the DPP. Ming, who had designated yesterday National Legalise Cannabis Day, travelled to Dublin from his home in Castlerea, Co Roscommon, to mark the event by presenting the Minister with special responsibility for drugs, Mr Eoin Ryan, with a cannabis plant. [continues 381 words]
A new website aimed at clubbers who take drugs tells first-time users to consider taking half a pill rather than a whole one, and tells them how to avoid nasal damage if snorting cocaine. Detailed information on the physical and psychological effects and potential side effects of a range of drugs, as well as advice on safer use, is included on the website, www.clubscene.ie. The website's creators insist it neither condemns nor condones drug use and that the information is designed to help drug-users make informed decisions. [continues 138 words]
A serious debate must take place in Ireland about legalising cannabis for medicinal use, a Cork Fine Gael TD has urged, following successful trials in the United Kingdom. Mr Simon Coveney said that "trials conducted over the last number of years in the UK have produced very encouraging results in the relief of severe pain, muscle spasm and bladder problems associated with illnesses such as multiple sclerosis. "We need to separate the use of cannabis as a recreational drug from its potential to relieve suffering from a range of illnesses such as epilepsy and multiple sclerosis as well as chronic pain relief," he said. [continues 86 words]
Cannabis has changed the life of long-term, chronic painsufferers by relieving their symptoms, according to a new study published yesterday in Glasgow. The patients had all been given a medicinal extract of cannabis. A trial started last year with 23 patients suffering severe pain from nerve damage and muscle spasms due to multiple sclerosis. Patients have described the effects ranging from "It has removed my pain and changed my life" to those who said they could now just get a good night's sleep, said Dr William Notcutt of the James Paget Hospital, in Great Yarmouth, England, who conducted the study. [continues 176 words]
Three heroin addicts have been admitted to Dublin hospitals with symptoms of the "flesh-eating" disease which has also emerged among drug-users in Glasgow. The illness is not, however, the same as one that killed 40 drug-users here and in Britain last year. Ms Elaine McKean, spokeswoman for the Greater Glasgow Health Board, confirmed that the outbreak was not caused by the Clostridium Novyi bacterium identified among intravenous drug-users last year. "It is quite different but still very serious, serious enough that we have issued this warning even before we are certain that a widespread problem exists." She said the cause may not be contaminated heroin but dirty needles or syringes and added that "investigations are ongoing". [continues 300 words]
The failure to implement further phases of the methadone maintenance programme in Mountjoy Prison means a "chronic" heroin addict who wants to tackle his addiction cannot get on the programme, the High Court was told yesterday. As a result the prisoner, Gerard Dunne (27), continues to inject himself with heroin, which he can get in prison. "The reality is it is impossible to avoid drugs in prison because they are available throughout the prison system," he said. The court was told only HIV-positive prisoners could avail of the programme in Mountjoy. It was claimed that budget reasons may have prevented expansion of the programme. [continues 382 words]
No targets have been set under the National Drugs Strategy (NDS) 2001-2008 to minimise the harm done by addicts who continue to put themselves at risk through drug abuse, the Dail heard. The rate of HIV transmission through intravenous drug abuse continued to rise as did the incidence of hepatitis C, Mr Joe Higgins (Socialist) told the House. No reduction target had been set in either case. "There should be a target to reduce deaths caused by heroin, particularly from overdosing, of which there were about 86 last year." This was a dramatic statistic for a small country and the deaths were confined to a relatively small area, he said. [continues 308 words]
Some form of "civil detention" for drug addicts should be provided as part of a crime prevention strategy, Mr Eamon Leahy SC told a conference on "Crime and Punishment: Retribution or Rehabilitation?" "The drug addict engaged in street crime to feed a drug habit may well be unable but will certainly be unwilling to view the criminal law as a stop sign," he said at the conference in Dublin on Saturday. As the addiction continued the need for resources to feed the addiction would continue and consequently the need to commit crime would continue, he said. Crime was a secondary problem to drug addiction, he said, but the primary response to it was a criminal law response. [continues 282 words]
A major crackdown by gardai on drug-dealing in the midlands has led to the arrest and conviction of members of one of the main gangs in the Athlone area. Last week a 16-year-old Athlone schoolgirl was put on probation for two years for possession of 139 bags of heroin for sale or supply. Another member of the gang, her former boyfriend, was jailed for 18 months in March. Their apprehension was the work of the Garda drugs squad set up in the Westmeath-Longford Garda division a year ago. [continues 460 words]
A premises where drug addicts could inject drugs under supervision should be set up in Dublin city, a report recommends. The study on providing services for homeless drug users says the establishment of a consumption room would minimise the amount of harm caused by people who use intravenous drugs on the streets. The report also recommends the establishment of a hostel for drug users in the city - a proposal which has already been sanctioned in the pounds 180 million action plan on homelessness in Dublin launched last month by the Taoiseach. [continues 277 words]
Violence in our towns and cities continues to be a topic for the regional newspapers. Alcohol and drugs are indentified as contributing to the problem. The Kildare Nationalist headlines its report "Availability of drugs is frightening." It goes on to report: "Widespread availability of drugs in rural Ireland is one of the most frightening developments of recent years," says Kildare South Deputy, Mr Jack Wall. The TD is reported as saying that "the gardai know of the huge upsurge in drug dealing outside cities with drug gangs seeking out new markets in which to ply their vile trade". [continues 516 words]
The incarceration industry generates $30 billion a year in the US - more than baseball or pornography - so you don't have to be a conspiracy theorist to wonder why the prison population is expanding so rapidly, writes Anna Mundow Beeville, Texas: 4.30 a.m. One by one the bosses clip-clop over to one of the guard towers that surround the prison. They chat for a while among themselves, waiting amiably on horseback. Above them, the picket guard attaches a rope to a plastic milk crate, then lowers the crate over the side. Inside the crate are the bosses' guns. [continues 2597 words]
