This article is from page 1 of the 2012-03-13 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 1 JPG
THE war against drugs in Clare has taken a sinister turn this week amid claims that a meth-type substance disguised in a sweet was being distributed among school children in Ennis.
Coláiste Muire principal Jean Pound told The Clare People that the school authorities had been informed that a “highly dangerous” sweet-like drug was now available in the Clare area and that innocent school children could be targeted in its distribution.
And, amid fears that students at the all-girl secondary school in Ennis could be offered the drug during lunchtime when they are allowed to leave the school premies, Ms Pound, revealed that a warning for children to remain vigilant to the dangers of drugs was issued to all students last week.
“We got a warning for people not to take it from anyone that was offering it,” she said.
“We were told there was this substance going around that was highly dangerous and that it looked like a sweet,” she added. However, when contacted by The Clare People on Monday, Chief Superintendent of the Clare Garda Division, John Kerin, has moved to ally fears that school children are being offered drugs. “Part of school talks are to try to make children aware of the dangers of meeting strangers and not taking anything from them,” the chief superintendent revealed. “Maybe it was exaggerated by someone, but we don’t believe that there’s any basis for it that things like this are being handed out,” he added.