Heroin problem in Cork. Just how bad is it?

star.chaser

Grew up in Cork but moved away from there 7 years ago. Heroin was almost unheard of when i lived there. It was all Coke and Yolks. Just how bad is the Heroin problem?

Dankoozy

I just injected heroin into my schlong

dahamsta

I inject heroin in everyone else's shlong.

star.chaser

it's a schlong way to tipperary..... it's a schlong way........

hey, whats schlong with yooooouuuuuu... your looking kind......

miss_shadow

...as you can see it's quite bad

grenache

One small step towards eliminating the heroin problem in Cork would be for all shops within a one mile radius of the city centre to stop selling tinfoil and all chocolate bars with thick tinfoil wrapping (e.g. Cadburys Turkish Delight, Animal Bars). A very drastic solution yes but one which would see immediate results.

ParkRunner

grenache wrote: »

One small step towards eliminating the heroin problem in Cork would be for all shops within a one mile radius of the city centre to stop selling tinfoil and all chocolate bars with thick tinfoil wrapping (e.g. Cadburys Turkish Delight, Animal Bars). A very drastic solution yes but one which would see immediate results.

Where there's a will there's a way Im afraid, only a minor obstacle to someone desperate for a fix!

minidazzler

It's quite bad in cork at the Moment. Think Dublin in the 80's and early 90's bad.

I know 3 people who have OD'd one of them twice and still smoke it regularily.

dahamsta

EF wrote: »

Where there's a will there's a way Im afraid, only a minor obstacle to someone desperate for a fix!

Ah come on, that post can't have been serious.

grenache

dahamsta wrote: »

Ah come on, that post can't have been serious.

well if you know how heroin is smoked, you will know my suggestion is no joke!

dahamsta

grenache wrote: »

well if you know how heroin is smoked, you will know my suggestion is no joke!

So you were seriously suggesting that "all shops within a one mile radius of the city centre to stop selling tinfoil and all chocolate bars with thick tinfoil wrapping", because of a heroin problem 99% of Corkonians will never encounter in any way, shape or form?

The heroin problem might not be a joke - or it might, I didn't even know it existed until this thread popped up - but your suggestion is. Put it in a letter to the Sun, they'll love it, it's about their level.

DamienH

Once this proposed solution is brought in surely it'll just drive junkies out into the suburbs like some kind of maddened, tin-foil crazed junkie buffalo? Then they'll have to be herded up (possibly by cowboys) and driven into the loch whereupon they'll drown..... hang on, thus solving Cork's junkie buffalo problem. Give this man/woman a seat on the council!!!!

DePurpereWolf

I had somebody at my door asking money for a drug addict rehabilitation centre in Mayfield (or Blackpool) anyway, he reckons he'd have 20 to 30 harddrugs addicts in at a time.

So I'd say it's a big problem

dahamsta

120,000 / 30 = 4,000

Illkillya

I agree with grenache, banning turkish delight bars will solve the heroin problem.

dahamsta

See, you'd be banned Turkish Delight AND Crunchies, which is a favourite combo of mine. I can't in good conscience agree to that!

You might as well just ban Tayto and Dairy Milk ffs.

grenache

dahamsta wrote: »

So you were seriously suggesting that "all shops within a one mile radius of the city centre to stop selling tinfoil and all chocolate bars with thick tinfoil wrapping", because of a heroin problem 99% of Corkonians will never encounter in any way, shape or form?

The heroin problem might not be a joke - or it might, I didn't even know it existed until this thread popped up - but your suggestion is. Put it in a letter to the Sun, they'll love it, it's about their level.

99% eh? You're plucking figures out of the sky there. I never said it was the answer - if you read my post you will see that i said it was ''one small step''. We had a lot of junkies hanging around the shop i worked in on Washington St. Us and a couple of other shops in the area decided to stop selling these confectionery products. Many shops now have tinfoil behind the counter, making it difficult for such an item to be shoplifted, which is a common habit amongst heroin users. We noticed a significant decrease in the numbers of these junkies in the area after these measures were put in place. You can deride my idea if you want. But i didn't see you coming up with one. Until you do, pipe down :pac:

Illkillya

Prime Time is talking about Heroin now, giving statistics about usage outside Dublin... they looked at the figures for 2002-2007 and Cork was not named as a badly affected area (like the midlands, north east, and south east). It does appear to be a new thing since 2007, so I wonder what the statistics are like now... (update, Cork guy is talking now)

dahamsta

grenache wrote: »

99% eh? You're plucking figures out of the sky there.

At least I've provided a figure - which I would guess is actually much, much higher - you've provided anecdotal evidence of a tiny-scale study to support a vastly expanded "one small step". (Comparing it to man walking on the moon might be overreaching just a tad btw.)

I don't have any ideas to deal with a problem that a tiny minority of Star readers want to screech about, but I reserve the right to deride any that are frankly idiotic. Put your idea in an email and send it to the aforementioned, that's where it belongs.

grenache

dahamsta wrote: »

At least I've provided a figure - which I would guess is actually much, much higher - you've provided anecdotal evidence of a tiny-scale study to support a vastly expanded "one small step". (Comparing it to man walking on the moon might be overreaching just a tad btw.)

I don't have any ideas to deal with a problem that a tiny minority of Star readers want to screech about, but I reserve the right to deride any that are frankly idiotic. Put your idea in an email and send it to the aforementioned, that's where it belongs.

Anyone can provide a figure, what does that prove? Anecdotal or not, the measures the traders put in place to counteract the presence of junkies in the vicinity worked.

dahamsta

What did the Cork lad have to say Illkillya? Be nice to see some numbers on this, there hasn't been a single verifiable fact so far in this thread.

grenache wrote: »

Anecdotal or not, the measures the traders put in place to counteract the presence of junkies in the vicinity worked.

With respect grenache, if it had been proven to have worked, it wouldn't be anecdotal.

If he or she wants to take those measures then off with them, but to suggest what they did in my quote earlier is, again, Star/Sun/Mirror level overreaction. Drug problems are invariably localised, and I'm pretty sure there aren't hordes of heroin addicts chasing the dragon in the aisles of, for example, Driscolls in Ballinlough.

I might add that Cork had a drug problem in the 80s, and the city doesn't seem to have sunk back into the marsh in the meantime.

adam

Illkillya

Can't remember the stats, but he said when he came to Cork in 1999, he previously worked in heroin cities like Liverpool and Edinburgh, and the only heroin addicts that he saw in Cork were the occasional tourists from England/Dublin a couple of times a year. Now he sees a new one every day. Deaths... used to be one in ten years, now it is 10(?) in 24 months. Described it as an epidemic. True, statistically it's not a massive problem as yet, but it's more to do with the spike (no pun intended) in usage. While it is a problem that has been festering for years in other parts of the country, it definitely seems to be new problem growing very rapidly at the moment in Cork.

dahamsta

Thanks for that Illkillya. Who was he, do you remember?

Illkillya

Think he was a doctor, can't remember where he works.

Flamed Diving

Nonsense. If you want to see a junkie problem, try strolling around O'Connell Street in Dublin. It's like 28 Days Later. Patrick Street is like Amish town, in comparison.

Auvers

Flamed Diving wrote: »

Nonsense. If you want to see a junkie problem, try strolling around O'Connell Street in Dublin. It's like 28 Days Later. Patrick Street is like Amish town, in comparison.

aye or else take a stroll down by Custom house quay some fine specimens around that part of town

Bill-e

what a dose.

Illkillya

That's beside the point... the problem is not the number of heroin users in Cork, it is the sharpness of the increase in that number. It is a new problem, and by the sounds of it we are near the bottom of a steep curve. Now is the time for it to be acknowledged and addressed.

Corkfeen

Wasn't there a problem with heroin addicts by centra on oliver plunkett street recently? Fairly sure I heard something about gardaí watching area for dealers etc.

Trojan911

Corkfeen wrote: »

Wasn't there a problem with heroin addicts by centra on oliver plunkett street recently? Fairly sure I heard something about gardaí watching area for dealers etc.

There is a span new CCTV camera mounted on a pole at the next junction just above that shop.... Strangely enough it is pointing at the said shop.

There were some right scummers sitting begging in the doorway next to the shop up to recent times..... Here are some covert images taken a "few" months ago...





Here is what happened when one of them uttered an obscenity to a nice policeman..... :pac:

CB19Kevo

Looks terrible to have people in that condition on the street.
Down by FAS and across from the college of comm are rough now,

weird

Flamed Diving wrote: »

Nonsense. If you want to see a junkie problem, try strolling around O'Connell Street in Dublin. It's like 28 Days Later. Patrick Street is like Amish town, in comparison.

Whoop whooop Hyperbole police

Dankoozy

im on the number 51 bus now and theres 2 ppl smoking heroin behind me.

Flamed Diving

weird wrote: »

Whoop whooop Hyperbole police

met⋅a⋅phor  /ˈmɛtəˌfɔr, -fər/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [met-uh-fawr, -fer] Show IPA

Use metaphor in a Sentence


See web results for metaphor


See images of metaphor

–noun 1.a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in “A mighty fortress is our God.” Compare mixed metaphor, simile (def. 1).2.something used, or regarded as being used, to represent something else; emblem; symbol.

In my experience, people who use words like hyperbole (not the lowercase 'h') tend to be types who have a hard time getting these concepts (such as people who go into dept stores having a 'MONSTER SALE' and get frustrated by the lack of monsters on display), and try to use such words in a vain attempt to cover this up. Feel free to ask if you require further help.

miss_shadow

omfg H&M is OPEN

dahamsta

There was certainly a metaphor in the quoted post - two in fact - but I don't think the OP is far off in calling the whole post hyperbole. Take the following sentence as an example:

"The Cork City forum is like a sinking ship full of idiots."

See, I'm making a comparison and I'm exaggerating. The Cork forum is of course only nearly full of idiots.

EDIT: The above may actually invalidate my example.

adam

Flamed Diving

dahamsta wrote: »

There was certainly a metaphor in the quoted post - two in fact - but I don't think the OP is far off in calling the whole post hyperbole. Take the following sentence as an example:

"The Cork City forum is like a sinking ship full of idiots."

See, I'm making a comparison and I'm exaggerating. The Cork forum is of course only nearly full of idiots.

EDIT: The above may actually invalidate my example.

adam

In a world without humour through exaggeration, you may have a point. Thankfully, we don't live in your world. Now, you're both boring me.

Away with you.

star.chaser

miss_shadow wrote: »

omfg H&M is OPEN

have things become so boring now that people get excited over a mid price international clothing chain opening a shop in their area?

miss_shadow

star.chaser wrote: »

have things become so boring now that people get excited over a mid price international clothing chain opening a shop in their area?

I bet your a really irritating type of person

dahamsta

She who smelt it, dealt it.

DamienH

H&M is a gash shop for fellas , unless you're a "flaaaa bhoy!"

Dudess

Elements of this thread are reminding me in no small way of a PROC one - maybe it really is the Cork personality...

star.chaser wrote: »

Grew up in Cork but moved away from there 7 years ago. Heroin was almost unheard of when i lived there. It was all Coke and Yolks. Just how bad is the Heroin problem?

As Illkillya says, while the numbers aren't high, there has been a really dramatic increase in a short space of time. Pretty alarming - heroin was never a problem in Cork until very recently. People used to say "oh the problem is there all right" but I think they were just looking for reasons to talk about how "society has gone to hell" - the way Ireland is constantly referred to as "falling apart" and "****ed up" on AH... :pac:

minidazzler wrote: »

It's quite bad in cork at the Moment. Think Dublin in the 80's and early 90's bad.

I don't think that's the case at the moment, statistically speaking.

star.chaser wrote: »

people get excited over a mid price international clothing chain opening a shop in their area?

I know I'm certainly excited. H&M is awesome!

miss_shadow

Well for people to start noticing it is a bad sign,maybe it has been here a while but you wouldn't hear nor see people doing it. one friend out of all of my friend's knew of one person doing it in Mallow years ago, so its really a matter of time tbh isn't it.

In my hometown in the U.K, a humble country town, it is a problem, its everywhere there and it's right in your face, its disgusting, my boyfriends ex-partner has epilepsy and had an attack and fell on a needle in a kids park. Here,I don't think it is so much of a problem, in my own opinion, morals are strong but for how long..
I guess we will have to wait and see.

Dankoozy

miss_shadow wrote: »

Well for people to start noticing it is a bad sign,maybe it has been here a while but you wouldn't hear nor see people doing it. one friend out of all of my friend's knew of one person doing it in Mallow years ago, so its really a matter of time tbh isn't it.

well the ppl on the bus today got on in mallow. a lot of scum around that place too.

what a change, back in the 80's Joe Sherlock said that there were druggies in Mallow and people were demanding an apology from him for saying such a bad thing about their quaint little town

Dudess

Oh heroin isn't just an issue faced by cities/large towns; it's a huge problem in rural former mining towns in England and Wales.

ohknee

Flamed Diving wrote: »

Nonsense. If you want to see a junkie problem, try strolling around O'Connell Street in Dublin. It's like 28 Days Later. Patrick Street is like Amish town, in comparison.

Have a read of this piece from earlier in the year provides fairly convincing facts to me.


Two year waiting list for methadone.

10th July 2009
Heroin addicts are waiting two years on average to get methadone treatment in the southeast, the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee was told yesterday. [/I]
Senior HSE official Gretta Crowley, an acting assistant national director, said 545 people in the State were waiting to get on to the methadone programme. Some 106 of these addicts were in the Cork area.
Cork has seen a major upsurge in heroin use in recent months with the number of people seeking treatment for addiction increasing by more than 25 times in a 10-year period. She said addicts were waiting 10 months on average for methadone treatment in Cork city. The longest wait was in the southeast where 40 addicts were waiting for treatment.
Ms Crowley said a shortage of GPs participating in the methadone programme accounted for some of the delay and the HSE was encouraging more GPs to participate. The HSE will open a new clinic in the southeast before the end of this year. New clinics will also open in Cork city, Limerick city, the midlands and the northeast.
Addicts in the midlands must wait for three to six months for methadone treatment, while the waiting list in the west is about six months. Ms Crowley said waiting lists were not a major issue in the Dublin region.
Committee chairman Bernard Allen said addicts who need a bed in a residential detoxification unit have to wait from two weeks to four months for one of the 23 beds available in Dublin.
Labour deputy Róisín Shortall highlighted research which found that 69 per cent of patients receiving drug treatment were still in the programme three years later. The vast majority were on methadone maintenance. Ms Shortall also criticised the lack of information on the costs and benefits of various drug treatment programmes. "We still don't know at this point what is the optimum way of treating drug abuse."

106 out of a total of 545 looks like a big problem to me.

ohknee

dahamsta wrote: »

Thanks for that Illkillya. Who was he, do you remember?

Dr Chris Luke is his name and he works in the mercy where he sees addicts coming in on a daily basis.

Youngest death he has seen so far in Cork was just 15.

Dan Dare

Back in the early 1980's I lived in the south inner city of Dublin. At the time the heroin problem was just taking off. It was ignored by the main political parties (exception Tony Gregory) and the Guards (who had better things to do like busting student parties in Rathmines where a minute amount of dope would be seized). The problem didn't go away, nor did it stay confined to socially deprived areas.

In the past year or so, you can see on the streets of Cork, heroin users (usually not particularly young), hanging around the city centre. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

star.chaser

miss_shadow wrote: »

I bet your a really irritating type of person

Ouch, that one really hurt!

What about if I went into the Fashion & Appearance forum and posted:

OMFG, Heroin has come to Cork

miss_shadow

im just gona give you i-evils

dahamsta

star.chaser wrote: »

What about if I went into the Fashion & Appearance forum and posted:

She's immediately hop on the bus, assuming it was the Next Big Thing in Shopping.

I think it's between the Vapid and Gullible outlets on "Opera Lane".