Galway Heroin Problem

inisboffin wrote: »

Wow. Pretty disgusting sentiment.

I think this was more of a sarcastic response to - what I think anyway - was a ridiculous post.

happyoutscan wrote: »

I think this was more of a sarcastic response to - what I think anyway - was a ridiculous post.

Ok, fair enough but it doesn't read like that to me. And I don't think the idea of safe needle exchanges or disposal sites is ridiculous - a lot of places have them.

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Sharps disposal containers are part of the harm reduction strategy in some parts of the world. They work.

Perhaps in other parts of the world. However I find it difficult to believe that today's typical Irish heroin user will dispose of their used equipment in these containers when they are currently finding it difficult to dispose of their used equipment in - for example - the nearest public waste bin?

every part of ireland is full of heroin addiction even small towns.. I can almost guarentee that in another few years even rural villages will be destroyed as they lack education about drugs and see heroin as just another thing to abuse without realising the real dangers and severe physical addiction that will follow.. I dont think methadone programmes are the answer either as methadone is just as bad if not worse then heroin its just a synthetic opiod that doctors are giving for free too people that might not even want to quit but just looking to be more stoned.. I think the key too overcoming the heroin problem in ireland is educating kids showing the real dangers of it and the guarenteed hellish lifestyle that comes with addiction so yea I think more education because the sad fact is alot of people will be offered drugs from an early age.

Lapin wrote: »

But we're not going to solve a drug problem by installing needle drop boxes around town.
.

you might help solve the used-needles-everywhere problem a little bit though

it'd be worth a try

Posted by happyoutscan
I didn't mean they should do this. I was making the point that if they currently do not dispose of their needles - for example in a bin - then they are unlikely to actually dispose of them in any container.

they "can't" carry their used needles/syringes in their pockets - if they get searched it could be seen as "going equipped" for holding up a shop etc

they "can't" throw them in a bin because the lads cleaning out the bins might get needle-sticks

there doesn't seem to be anywhere proper and nearby for them to put the used needles

db97 wrote: »

I think the key too overcoming the heroin problem in ireland is educating kids showing the real dangers of it and the guarenteed hellish lifestyle that comes with addiction so yea I think more education because the sad fact is alot of people will be offered drugs from an early age.

I think at this stage that has been proven not to work, I still remember our "education" about drugs, and the real dangers of it. When someone's life is falling apart, they generally don't worry too much about what Ms. Jackson told them in 2nd year, whether it's the bottle, the pipe or the needle, if they have access and exposure, they will reach for it to escape the reality they are stuck with.

Money better spent would be keeping the heroin users safe, and helping them turn their lives around so they can tackle the problems that landed them in the clutches of addiction in the first place, be they social, personal or psychological.
The general public's understanding of addiction itself is very limited, as the DEA have continually funded research and evidence that supports the "war on drugs" as being the only way to tackle the problems of addiction in society. Rather than turning every child into an equally polarised bigot as some of the people on here by shouting drugs are bad at them, regulate the supply, control the environment and try and reduce the factors which cause it.

Try living with one of these 'poor wrecks' and you won't have to spend an afternoon volunteering at a centre to see how their addiction screws with the lives of everyone around them.

What I am suggesting is taking them out of the public domain where they have options that don't involve getting judged, spat on, degraded or abused by anyone. Placed in an environment where compassion and care is shown, the majority will eventually manage their lives. Many do carry on using, either because of psychological issues, trauma or depression. Many will be able to get the help they need to recognize the root causes of their issues and deal with them, working towards putting their lives back together.

I'm sure they aren't easy to live with, they will lie, steal, and sell themselves to get another fix. What I am proposing is you make that fix available, in a controlled environment and prevent further self hatred by having to lie cheat and steal to satisfy their need.

AngryHippie wrote: »

I'm sure they aren't easy to live with, they will lie, steal, and sell themselves to get another fix. What I am proposing is you make that fix available, in a controlled environment and prevent further self hatred by having to lie cheat and steal to satisfy their need.

A bit like the Swiss who have been successful in harm reduction using needle exchange policies and injection rooms. This has been a very successful policy as far as I can make out and is fully supported by Swiss Police

Webbs wrote: »

A bit like the Swiss who have been successful in harm reduction using needle exchange policies and injection rooms. This has been a very successful policy as far as I can make out and is fully supported by Swiss Police

Ireland isn't forward thinking like that unfortunately.

While you are talking about being

gilberto_eire wrote: »

Oblivious to the fact

how about the fact that 95% of addicts in the merseyside program managed to hold down jobs, houses and live relatively normal lives.
Aside from the fact that it is cheaper to provide them with what they need as addicts free of charge than the associated policing and incarceration for theft, possession and dealing.
Aside from the fact that they have less severe and less frequent major healthcare problems that we are paying for treatment of anyway.
Aside from the fact that as addicts buying on the black market they are putting money straight into the hands of organised criminal gangs, which we must then fund policing to control.
Aside from the fact that crime levels (muggings, break ins, violent crime, street prostitution) have dropped in every region that has decriminalized and set up Heroin access programs.

Your are arguing in favor of maintaining the status quo because you dislike them as human entities, rather than looking at the facts that both the addicts and society benefit by going in a totally different direction.

gilberto_eire wrote: »

on behalf of the evicted travellers

Why you would bring the traveller strawman into it we can only hazard a guess that either you are the kind of bigot that would have enjoyed cutting eyeholes in sheets around the middle of the last century, or that you have no relevant points to make, so you'd like to make the suggestion that I am too compassionate to minority groups to take away from the points that I do make. Either way, a fairly low behavior

Anytime you'd like to put some of the "facts" you've alluded to up here I'd be glad to see them, refute them and/or discuss/debate them with you.

gilberto_eire wrote: »

It's my fault, how that happens I'm at a loss.

Your attitude you convey in your posts - Intolerant, prejudiced, stereotyping, condescending and racist (Not that Travellers are a specific race, but they are an identfiable ethnic group and you have slurred them without posting any evidence)

But people like you who aren't in touch with reality

After 90 years of failed prohibition which you refuse to acknowledge, you are suggesting that I am not in touch with reality. delicious stuff there.

I'm not suggesting that it will all be sunshine and lollipops. People with mental illnesses, addiction problems, traumatic childhoods and tragedy in their lives will still have to cope with a certain amount of misery and hardship in their lives. What I am suggesting is that we can help them, while helping ourselves rather than setting them up in a perpetuating cycle of criminality which we then have to finance and which makes everyone's situation worse.:rolleyes:

There's a report in the City Tribune today that heroin is being openly sold in Westside now. For everyone's sake, residents of Galway and addicts alike you'd think it'd be in the Guards interest to make tackling that an absolute priority. Regardless of your views on legalisation etc no good has ever come from letting heroin dealing take hold in an area.
http://connachttribune.ie/residents-anger-as-heroin-addicts-score-at-open-drug-market-302/

A number of locals made a complaint to Gardaí on Wednesday morning that a number of addicts were in the process of buying heroin from a dealer behind Westside Church.

However, Councillor Mike Cubbard said the residents were told there were no Gardaí available to deal with the situation.

“The lads who spotted this rang the Gardai straight away. The answer they got from the Gardai was ‘today is a busy day… everybody is up in court and there are no guards available to call out to you.

“It shows how bad it’s gotten now that they’re doing this in broad daylight beside a church at 11 in the morning… there is a huge frustration out there with the locals at the moment.”

Storm 10 wrote: »

It's happening all over this City saw a few guys in the Square acting like they were passing stuff but I kept away from them

Yup. It's not just happening in one area. That's just what made a headline.

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

I suppose the headline was more about the guards getting a call about it and saying they were too busy to respond, obviously not thinking it was a priority.

OR like it said in the article, the (badly resourced and under manned) Gardai responded to the phone caller;

"today is a busy day… everybody is up in court and there are no guards available to call out to you".

No mention there that the Gardai didn't think it was urgent or a priority. Rather that they did not have the man power to respond on the day in question. Its not like there are 40 Gardai sitting in Mill Street picking their noses all day.