ti-drugs groups demand resources
LEADING anti-drugs groups have united to call on the
Dublin government to honour its election promise to
provide funding for youth development.
The call follows the recent jailing in England of
Dublin's top heroin trafficker, Thomas `The Boxer'
Mullen.
The Coalition of Communites Against Drugs (COCAD), The
Inner City Organisations Network (ICON), and the Dublin
Wide Drugs Crisis Campaign said that government funding
for day-to-day drugs prevention and education
programmes is crucial in the fight against drugs.
The groups want the government to commit £20 million to
a Youth Development Fund over the next three years.
ti-drugs campaigner, Mick Rafferty said, ``High
profile victories against individual traffickers are
welcome, but they should not obscure the fact that
there is a lot of hard work on the ground that needs
vital support from the media and the government.
``There is a great deal of anger and resentment among
parents and youth workers about the way in which the
Youth Development Fund has been decimated.''
Rafferty added that it is of no benefit to put drugs
barons in prison if the root causes are not tackled.
COCAD, ICON and City-Wide plan to hold a protest
pageant at the Dail when TD's return on Wednesday, 28
January at 3.00pm.
The protest will signify the start of a rolling
campaign to secure a serious goverment commitment to
fighting the resurgent drugs menace.
Sinn Féin Dublin City Councillor Christy Burke has
backed the groups' demands and slated the government
for its decision to welch on previous committments to
the Youth Development Fund. ``Fianna Fail were very
loud in support of the campaign against heroin when
they were on the doorsteps of Dublin during the general
election campaign.
``The drugs crisis has not gone away. We need resources
at a local level to tackle the root causes of one the
greatest problems facing our society today. That focus
must be regained and those demands will be put back on
the political agenda.''
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