Post by RedFlag32 on Aug 31, 2006 21:39:03 GMT
Politician’s cocaine slur
A Southside antidrugs group has hit back at suggestions that it is rich cocaine users in wealthy suburbs who are fuelling Dublin’s rising coke epidemic.
The South Inner City Drugs Taskforce has said that cocaine is being used across the social spectrum in South Dublin and is the drug of choice for others apart from wealthy Southsiders.
The group spoke to Southside People following controversial claims by Dublin South Central TD Aengus O’Snodaigh (SF), who blamed the “wealthy and trendy” elite for subsidising Ireland’s booming cocaine culture.
According to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, cocaine seizures in Ireland have increased 1,200 per cent since 1995.
Deputy O’Snodaigh said that the murder of a prominent drug dealer in the south inner city recently was partly the result of those who pay for wraps of cocaine at upmarket dinner parties.
“It is a national epidemic and a drug that is increasingly easy to find on the streets of Dublin,” Deputy O’Snodaigh said. “The consequences of it can be found in the brutal murder of a drug dealer in my own constituency.”
He pointed to the fact that the National Advisory Committee on Drugs, in its report on cocaine use launched in January of this year, found a clear association between the age when education ceased and cocaine use.
The report showed that those respondents who had obtained an elementary level of education reported lower prevalence rates of cocaine use than expected.
“The evidence, both anecdotal and statistical, is clear that cocaine use among the wealthier sections of Irish society is high,” Deputy O’Snodaigh said.
“In reality, those people paying for a wrap of cocaine at a dinner party are the people subsidising the drug gangs and fuelling their squalid and violent wars for control of a lucrative trade estimated in June to be worth a billion euros in Ireland alone.”
He added: “The devastation caused by drugs hits working class communities hardest, destroying families and shattering lives, but it is the wealthy and the trendy, many of whom will never be near any of the places in my constituency which bear the scars of drug abuse, who fund the drug gangs.”
However, the TD’s strong comments have caused consternation for those in the front line of the fight against drugs. One top coordinator for a local drugs task force in South Dublin said he would be wary of such comments from Deputy O’Snodaigh.
Colm Browne of the South Inner City Area Drugs Task Force said that comments such as Deputy O’Snodaigh’s are not always helpful in his group’s quest to combat the drugs problem.
Mr Browne said that the information obtained from his group showed that cocaine use is high among all sections of society.
“Cocaine is being used by many people in South Dublin on a very regular basis,” Mr Browne said. “It is a pet drug for most people as an accompaniment to alcohol.
“It is certainly not only the rich and famous that use it now. It is a bigger problem with a whole range of people these days.”
Mr Browne acknowledged that most of the work he is involved in with the task force deals with the setting up of projects to deal with many drug issues.
“I am not directly involved with working with people with drug addiction problems,” he said. “However, I am sure that the people who do deal with addicts will tell you that cocaine addiction is affecting a very broad spectrum.”
The latest cocaine controversy comes on the heels of the publication of a photograph by a tabloid newspaper purporting to show Fianna Fail councillor Liam Kelly snorting a white powder. Cllr Kelly has denied taking cocaine and claims the picture was “staged” as part of an extortion attempt.
www.dublinpeople.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1588&Itemid=49
A Southside antidrugs group has hit back at suggestions that it is rich cocaine users in wealthy suburbs who are fuelling Dublin’s rising coke epidemic.
The South Inner City Drugs Taskforce has said that cocaine is being used across the social spectrum in South Dublin and is the drug of choice for others apart from wealthy Southsiders.
The group spoke to Southside People following controversial claims by Dublin South Central TD Aengus O’Snodaigh (SF), who blamed the “wealthy and trendy” elite for subsidising Ireland’s booming cocaine culture.
According to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, cocaine seizures in Ireland have increased 1,200 per cent since 1995.
Deputy O’Snodaigh said that the murder of a prominent drug dealer in the south inner city recently was partly the result of those who pay for wraps of cocaine at upmarket dinner parties.
“It is a national epidemic and a drug that is increasingly easy to find on the streets of Dublin,” Deputy O’Snodaigh said. “The consequences of it can be found in the brutal murder of a drug dealer in my own constituency.”
He pointed to the fact that the National Advisory Committee on Drugs, in its report on cocaine use launched in January of this year, found a clear association between the age when education ceased and cocaine use.
The report showed that those respondents who had obtained an elementary level of education reported lower prevalence rates of cocaine use than expected.
“The evidence, both anecdotal and statistical, is clear that cocaine use among the wealthier sections of Irish society is high,” Deputy O’Snodaigh said.
“In reality, those people paying for a wrap of cocaine at a dinner party are the people subsidising the drug gangs and fuelling their squalid and violent wars for control of a lucrative trade estimated in June to be worth a billion euros in Ireland alone.”
He added: “The devastation caused by drugs hits working class communities hardest, destroying families and shattering lives, but it is the wealthy and the trendy, many of whom will never be near any of the places in my constituency which bear the scars of drug abuse, who fund the drug gangs.”
However, the TD’s strong comments have caused consternation for those in the front line of the fight against drugs. One top coordinator for a local drugs task force in South Dublin said he would be wary of such comments from Deputy O’Snodaigh.
Colm Browne of the South Inner City Area Drugs Task Force said that comments such as Deputy O’Snodaigh’s are not always helpful in his group’s quest to combat the drugs problem.
Mr Browne said that the information obtained from his group showed that cocaine use is high among all sections of society.
“Cocaine is being used by many people in South Dublin on a very regular basis,” Mr Browne said. “It is a pet drug for most people as an accompaniment to alcohol.
“It is certainly not only the rich and famous that use it now. It is a bigger problem with a whole range of people these days.”
Mr Browne acknowledged that most of the work he is involved in with the task force deals with the setting up of projects to deal with many drug issues.
“I am not directly involved with working with people with drug addiction problems,” he said. “However, I am sure that the people who do deal with addicts will tell you that cocaine addiction is affecting a very broad spectrum.”
The latest cocaine controversy comes on the heels of the publication of a photograph by a tabloid newspaper purporting to show Fianna Fail councillor Liam Kelly snorting a white powder. Cllr Kelly has denied taking cocaine and claims the picture was “staged” as part of an extortion attempt.
www.dublinpeople.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1588&Itemid=49
