The alcohol lobby successfully opposes the inclusion of alcohol in the Government's anti drug campaign. The campaign begins to look extremely stupid when it ignores alcohol, which kills more people than all illegal substances combined, and concentrates on cannabis, which has not caused a single death in over 5,000 years. Maybe the politicians are required to adhere to the party line of prohibition because law enforcement, customs, the prison industrial complex, the drug testing industry, the INS, the CIA, the FBI, the DEA, and the politicians themselves can't live without the budget justification. Not to mention the invisible profits, bribery, corruption and forfeiture benefits that prohibition affords them. The drug war promotes, justifies and perpetuates racist enforcement policies and diminishes many freedoms that are supposed to be inalienable. Myron Von Hollingsworth, Fort Worth, Texas [end]
TRAGIC teenager Kim O'Donovan was described as their treasure by her heartbroken family yesterday. Ronnie and Maura O'Donovan, 15 year old Kim's adoptive parents, revealed their non stop efforts to get help for their beloved daughter throughout her short and troubled life. The couple, from south Co. Dublin, adopted Kim when she was 18 months old and she became a baby sister to big brothers Andrew and Stephen. In a statement issued by their solicitors they said: "Kim grew up in a normal loving, caring family environment. She attended mainstream schools and participated in all the usual children's activities." But sadly, they added: "Kim was always disturbed." They said from an early age they had consulted with Kim's teachers, with child counsellors, psychologists and psychiatrists in relation to her problems. [continues 299 words]
THE 15-year-old girl found dead from a suspected drug overdose in a city guesthouse yesterday morning had been missing from a health board residential home for a month. The teenager, whose name has not been released, was on a garda missing list after giving staff the slip and running away while on work experience on July 28. She was found unconscious in the bedroom of a bed and breakfast on Lower Gardiner Street close to Dublin city centre yesterday morning. It is believed she may have been dead for several hours. [continues 424 words]
THANK you for publishing an article about cannabis and the prohibition laws which make criminals of those of us who choose to buy or grow it. Your paper truly lived up to its name. Cannabis is a remarkably benign substance -- far safer than alcohol or tobacco. You may hear politicians say that we should not legalise another drug because that would only make matters worse. When cannabis is available to me I choose it instead of alcohol. Reports from the European Soccer Championship in Amsterdam suggest that fans who might usually get involved in alcohol fuelled troublemaking were content to puff on a joint or three and chat amiably with other fans. [continues 76 words]
Whichever technique of measuring young people's drug use we apply, household surveys, school administered surveys or analysis of official treatment and offending rates, the problem continues to grow. Recently released ISPCC figures created media headlines. These headline figures are, however, subject to a number of ambiguities which need to be better understood if we are to make any progress in understanding the apparent growth in drug taking among young Irish people. Firstly we need to recognise that these figures come as no surprise to young people themselves. In point of fact they suggest that the attitude of young Irish people towards drug taking is at variance with the official or established line on the issue. The trend in Irish drug taking behaviour mirrors that of our nearest neighbour, Britain, insofar as we are witnessing a process of normalisation of recreational drug use amongst young people. The gap between our official attitude towards rule breaking and the experiences of young people engaging in illegal leisure activities is widening. A number of key factors lie behind this trend. [continues 797 words]
Frightening estimates of the real extent of drug addiction in this country are contained in a new report showing that almost 14,000 people are using hard drugs like heroin. According to the first countrywide study of the scale of the crisis, over 8,500 people are hooked on opiates like heroin and methadone, while a further 5,000 use them, but are not yet "problematic users". Significantly, Dr Catherine Comiskey of the National University of Ireland at Maynooth believes that official estimates of only 4,000 addicts "represents a serious underestimate of the true national prevalence of opiate use". [continues 123 words]
Gardai are to send two separate files to the Director of Public Prosecutions following two separate drugs seizures in Cork city over the weekend. Almost pounds 15,000 worth of drugs were recovered. Uniformed and plainclothes gardai recovered pounds 8,000 worth of ecstasy tablets when they stopped and searched three men in their late teens and early 20s at Spring Lane in the Blackpool area of the city at around 8pm on Saturday. Gardai found around 800 ecstasy tablets, arrested the men and brought them to Gurranabraher Garda Station for questioning. [continues 241 words]
Over 8,500 Irish people are addicted to heroin, new research has revealed. A further 5,000 people are taking heroin or methadone, but are not yet problematic users. The report, carried out by Dr Catherine Comiskey of the National University of Ireland Maynooth, is the first country wide prevalence study of opiate heroin and methadone use. In her report, Dr Comiskey points out that the 8,500 figure only refers to problematic users, ie, those seeking treatment or hospital services. [continues 258 words]
A scheme to place recovering drug addicts in the workplace was welcomed by employers and unions yesterday. The pilot programme will provide a link between businesses and the thousands of people attending drug rehabilitation clinics, finding suitable jobs for workers and suitable workers for jobs. New employees will be trained for the job in mind and assigned a co worker as a mentor when they take up their position. A company awareness programme will also be devised for their bosses and other colleagues to help them cope with the practical and personal issues involved. [continues 280 words]
A luxury mansion used for trafficking drugs from North Africa to Europe has been seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau. The pounds 1 million home in Sneem, County Kerry is owned by Jan Hendrik Ijpelaar, a notorious and wealthy Dutch trafficker in ecstasy and cannabis. The property, featuring tennis courts, a swimming pool, stables and an accompanying island, was used by Ijpelaar, 53, to land drugs from North Africa before shipping them on to Northern Europe. The High Court granted the Criminal Assets Bureau an order for possession and sale of the pounds 1 million mansion and island. [continues 400 words]
"GOD makes the earth yield healing herbs, which the prudent man should not neglect"(Sirach:38:4). Well, quite -- or as the legendary vernacular would have it, God made grass, man made booze -- who do you trust? Cannabis sativa, that hardy adaptable plant that grows everywhere from your window box to the mountains of Asia, Africa and America, has been cultivated by ourselves for over 10,000 years. You would, however, be (almost) forgiven for thinking that it is a highly addictive, dangerous drug, so draconian and misleading is our current legislation, which classifies a gram of cannabis resin to be more harmful and potentially lethal than, say, a crate of whiskey. [continues 1167 words]
The seizure of assets held by a convicted international narcotics dealer by the Criminal Assets Bureau will send out a loud and clear message that there is no place in Ireland for so called drug barons. This seizure marks yet another major success by the Irish authorities against the worldwide drugs mafia. Some indication of the vast wealth amassed by major drug dealers can be gleaned from the scale of the property near Sneem on the Ring of Kerry. Besides containing superb antique furniture and a costly art collection, the 15 acre ground has a swimming pool, tennis courts and landscaped gardens. The luxury property, valued at pounds 1.5 million, also includes an island just off the coast. Its owner, a 53 year old Dutch, national is a major trafficker in cannabis and ecstasy and the island may have been used to bring drugs into Ireland and Europe. [continues 68 words]
A rogue ecstasy tablet linked to the deaths of drug users around the world could soon be on sale in Ireland. The deadly drug has already claimed the lives of users in Germany and other parts of Europe, as well as the US and Australia, and the Garda Drug Squad fears it will soon be on sale in Ireland. "Almost all the ecstasy sold here comes from Holland. If dodgy tablets are being made there, it is only a matter of time before they become available here," a drug squad officer said. [continues 322 words]
IMAGINE ... you're 15. You left home because you couldn't stick the sexual abuse anymore. You didn't know where to go for help, so you started sleeping rough. You're so scared of being attacked that you don't get any rest. Someone told you that you might be able to get a hostel bed if you go to a garda station, but you're worried they might send you home to your father. Your savings run out, so you start begging to get money for food. You feel so lonely and depressed that you're tempted to start taking the drugs that are being offered to you. Anything to block out the pain. [continues 817 words]
The Government has announced a new drugs advisory committee to tackle the country's growing crisis. Junior Minister Eoin Ryan made the announcement yesterday after the Merchant Quay project revealed that drug abuse in Dublin has increased by 28% in one year. The national advisory committee will hold its inaugural meeting in September and will oversee a three-year research project designed to help the Government tackle the abuse of heroin and other hard drugs. With an annual budget of pounds 1 million the programme will examine all areas of drug misuse under the headings of prevalence, prevention, treatment and research. [continues 222 words]
San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan last week announced a plan to issue city ID cards allowing sick people to use cannabis. The cards, which cost $25 and require a doctor's note, allow patients to avoid local prosecution if caught possessing the drug. US District Judge Charles R Breyer is expected to decide if an Oakland club is allowed to distribute medicinal marijuana. He hinted last week he may be forced to permit it because the US Justice Department hasn't rebutted evidence that cannabis is the only effective treatment for a large group of seriously ill people. Governor Gray Davis has approved spending $3 million over three years to research the benefits and efficacy of cannabis, which is used by some to ease the pain of terminal or chronic illness. [continues 222 words]
A Yugoslav gangster has told Dutch police that he fired the shots which killed Irish drugs dealer, Derek "Maradona" Dunne in Amsterdam early last month. The murder suspect has apparently claimed, during police interrogation, that he fired in self defence, hitting 33 year old Dunne. The 31 year old Dutch based member of a notorious Yugoslav drugs gang, together with a second Yugoslav man and a 26 year old Dutchman, were picked up in recent days and have been remanded in custody. [continues 290 words]
People who are thrown out of their local authority housing for anti social behaviour, which is frequently drug related, can find themselves with no place to go. National housing organisation Threshold, which examined how the 1997 Housing Act impacts on anti social tenants, said such exclusion is not the only answer. Calling for a range of solutions to tackle the issue, it proposes that alternative housing solutions be developed. These should take into account the needs of both the community and the drug user. [continues 306 words]
SWEEPING changes to be considered by the Government in its review of the National Drugs Strategy were submitted yesterday. The National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI) has warned the Government it must not confine the National Drugs Strategy to major cities only, as the problem effects every county. NYCI president James Doorley says the misuse of drugs by young people is continuing to grow. "More young people come into contact with and misuse drugs than ever before. More and more drugs are available to young people, drugs are easier to obtain and there is a continuing and ample supply," he warned. [continues 252 words]
Health experts fighting a mystery illness striking heroin users say bacteria blamed in Britain may not be the cause of outbreak here. Scientists in the UK announced a breakthrough a fortnight ago when a soil based bacterium, called Clostridium A, was found in the bloodstream of patients believed to have used contaminated heroin. But health officials here are still unable to confirm if the same bug is responsible for eight deaths and 14 other cases of severe infections in heroin addicts in Dublin. [continues 65 words]
