This article is from page 12 of the 2007-03-13 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 12 JPG
COCAINE use in Clare has risen sharply and is the second most used drug in the county, with its popular- ity now outgrowing ecstacy.
The use of heroin is also continuing to increase in Clare, as addicts travel to Limerick to get their fix, accord- ing to gardai.
The head of the Clare Garda Di- vision’s Drug Unit, Sergeant John Brennan, said the trends in drug use in Clare had changed dramatically over the past few years and cocaine was now widely available.
“Our seizures of cocaine would be next to cannabis. It would have been very rare, going back three or four years ago.
“It has eclipsed ecstacy and am- phetamine,” said Sgt Brennan.
“It is the demand for cocaine that is causing problems. A lot of people with good wage packets are indulg- ing in cocaine at weekends. Once there is a demand, there will always be a supply,” he said.
While gardai in Clare have not made any major seizures of cocaine in recent years, they believe that a string of minor hauls is resulting in inroads being made into its supply.
‘A lot of individual seizures are be- ing made. There has been a substan- tial increase over the past number of years in the amount of cocaine vis- ible to us anyway.
“It seems to be deemed acceptable across the board, by all sections of the community,” he said.
He said the link between cocaine use and violence was significant as people who wouldn’t generally have violent tendencies resorted to vicious assaults after taking the drug.
“It is very obvious it is responsible for violence and public order inci- CSN
“It is commonly accepted that the use of cocaine leads to violence and it has been a factor in some of the se- rious assaults that have taken place,” |ntemncy-B (em
The majority of drugs are brought into Clare from mainland Europe, via Limerick, and gardai believe that cocaine and cannabis come in Koons
A number of prosecutions have been brought to court and a number of others are still pending, relating to possession of cocaine.
Sgt Brennan said the use of heroin continued to pose huge concerns for ee KerNe
“There is still a considerable amount of it. A lot of our people are going in to Limerick to get heroin. Some of the notorious drugs gangs in Limerick are cutting back the supply of cannabis, because it is more bulky, and are replacing it with heroin,” he Sr HLGe
He said that the popularity of ecsta- cy tablets has “dropped completely”’.