Heroin seizures set to soar
Fiach Kelly
HEROIN seizures in 2008 are set to soar to record highs as the impact of last year's bumper poppy crop in Afghanistan continues to be felt here.
And the deadly drug is taking its toll outside the capital, with a 400pc increase in the number of deaths recorded outside Dublin in the last five years.
Figures compiled by the Irish Independent show heroin seizures this year outstrip those of cocaine and cannabis.
In total, more than €16m of the deadly drug was seized by gardai in the first six months of 2008, compared with €9.6m for cocaine and €15m for cannabis.
The total heroin haul for 2008 looks set to beat last year's €25m. This year's total is already two thirds of that tally.
As well as seizures in areas like Limerick and Dublin, there has also been a €2m swoop in Meath and Westmeath and a €300,000 haul in Co Laois.
European intelligence indicated some of the bumper crop of 800 tonnes of heroin produced in Afghanistan in 2007 would appear here.
Drug experts here say that the problem is beginning to be felt across the country in the past six months in areas which were previously unaffected.
And the number of opium deaths outside of Dublin has increased by almost 400pc since 2002. Although deaths in the capital have risen slightly, from 44 in 2002 to 47 in the first three quarters of 2007, they have soared across the rest of the country.
Base
They jumped from a low base of six in 2002 to 23 in the first nine months of last year, according to the Central Statistics Office.
"There has been an increase," Michael Walsh, chair of the National Drugs Task Force in the North East said.
"People on the ground have been telling us that the drug is now easily got out there. A lot of that would be coming from people moving out of the Dublin area and into the north east in areas like Cavan."
Mr Walsh said that the Drugs Task Force encountered heroin users more regularly than users of other hard drugs. He said: "It's frightening how there is a very light attitude towards it ."
Dr Chris Luke from Cork University Hospital said that he was noticing a particular problem in the city, which had the potential to cause huge damage. "In the last three to six months opiate use has become a problem," he said. "Once it takes hold, it spreads like wildfire."
- Fiach Kelly
