COCAD says crisis is here
The Coalition of Communities Against Drugs (COCAD) said this week that the heroin problem in Dublin and across the country is now developing to worse than 1996 proportions..
At a COCAD meeting on Wednesday, 25 August, which was attended by representatives from 40 affiliated COCAD areas, there was unanimous agreement that a return to widespread street campaigns will be necessary in the near future. In a subsequent press statement, the group said that ``while this government has made slight gestures of good will by providing £25 million to try to deal with years of neglect they have yet to get to grips with the pusher on the street selling to our children''.
Cecil Johnston, spokesperson for COCAD, told An Phoblacht this week that there has been ``no real effort to tackle middle or smaller dealers who, technically, are doing the damage''. Johnston said that a series of events have been ongoing in different areas, while others are planned. ``The intimidation anti-drug activists have had to put up with from gardaí is a disgrace. While the government continues to target genuinely concerned community workers, the drugs problem in many areas is worsening,'' he said.
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