Drug dealers target addicts on dole day

Heartless and dangerous drug dealers are following vulnerable addicts to their local post office on dole day and waiting outside to extract payments for debts owed. They even approach them at home, and intimidate their families, with some people taking out loans to clear their loved one’s drug bills.

Shocking accounts were provided by Fianna Fáil's Patricia Walsh to this newspaper, who said she has “seen it happening with my own eyes”.

The Cavan Town councillor was speaking to the Celt on Monday last, having earlier contributed to a debate in the council chamber calling for the HSE to increase funding for addiction services for young people across the country.

The motion was tabled by Sinn Féin's Damien Brady, but the discussion took a turn beyond the initial thread when Cllr Walsh brought to the attention of her fellow elected members the extraordinary lengths to which drug dealers are now going to keep tabs on arrears.

She told the April monthly meeting that drug intimidation is happening “out in the open” in towns and villages across Cavan, and on any given day.

Cllr Walsh agreed with Cllr Brady that there are “not enough services” to support addicts who often feel like they have “no one to turn to”.

Still, the drug dealers demand their dues. “A lot of families are having to deal with it then,” she said.

Cllr Walsh told the Celt after the meeting had ended that in the last week alone she was aware of a situation where drug dealers had turned up at the doors of two homes.

The first was a case of “mistaken identity”, and Cllr Walsh says: “That's still very scary to have these people calling to your door.”

She adds also that it has been brought to her attention circumstances in which families have had to take out “sizeable” credit union loans in the hope of clearing a loved one’s drug debt.

“These are people who wouldn’t have the money to do that, but they feel they’ve no other option.”

With regard to dealers following addicts as they attempt to collect their weekly welfare payment, Cllr Walsh reports: “You’ll see them standing around, waiting outside.”

Cllr Brady (SF) had stated, in opening the debate, that often times young people turn to abusing drugs or alcohol in times of stress.

“We all know how easy it is to get drugs in our communities and how they are destroying people’s lives,” stated Cllr Brady, who highlighted how there has been a rise in the number of drug-related deaths in Ireland.

Calling for further investment in dedicated services to assist children under the age of 18 years struggling with drug addiction, he said: “A key principle of treatment of addiction is that treatment should be available, accessible, attractive and appropriate. Young people should have access to both preventative and rehabilitation supports.”

There was support too for Cllr Brady’s motion from his fellow party members Noel Connell and Stiofán Conaty.

Cllr O’Connell said that addiction is “causing mayhem” in all communities in Ireland, and that spiralling habits are leading other issues around “self harm and suicide”.

Cllr Conaty meanwhile suggested that the country take a novel approach to addressing drug use in Ireland, by exploring the subject of “decriminalisation” in greater depth.

“You can’t punish your way out of a health crisis,” he told the meeting. “The horse has bolted.”

Independent Brendan Fay also supported the motion, saying greater supports in schools are needed.

He looked to how America dealt with the drug epidemic of the 1980s and the crackdown that ensued under the Reagan administration’s anti-drug strategy and the Anti-Drug Abuse Act that only contributed to exponential growth in mass incarceration, particularly within already marginalised communities. “We have to look at the mistakes that were made. We’re still making the same mistakes now.”

An Garda Síochána, the Department for Social Protection, and An Post have all been contacted for comment.