1999 CityWide Policy Document

Dublin Citywide Drugs Crisis Campaign launched its first policy document "Responding Together" in May 1996. Since that document there have been a number of significant achievements and developments in relation to the drugs issue. It is important for all those involved in the campaign to recognise and value those achievements.

The First Report of the Ministerial Task Force on Measures to Reduce the Demand for Drugs came out in October 1996. This report stated that "drug use is concentrated in communities that are characterised by large-scale social and economic deprivation and marginalisation. The physical/environmental conditions in these neighbourhoods are poor, as are the social and recreational infrastructures." Government policy was finally giving official acknowledgement to the case which has been argued by communities for a long time, about the links between socio-economic conditions and drug use.

As a result of the Task Force Report, 13 Local Drugs Task Forces were established, 12 in Dublin and 1 in Cork. The Local Drugs Task Forces have enabled local community representatives to become involved in drawing up plans and implementing services and have resulted in the investment of much needed resources into local communities.

The Second Ministerial Task Force Report was published in May 1997 and one of it's key recommendations was the setting up of a Youth Services Development Fund, as "high priority should be attached to developing youth facilities in areas where the problem of drug abuse is prevalent or where it may be likely to emerge." Following an intensive community campaign, the Young Peoples Facilities and Services Fund was announced in January 1998 and is currently being allocated. Another positive development is the commitment by the Dept. of Education to introducing a drugs education programme in all primary schools by the end of 1999.

EHB treatment services have expanded rapidly over the last couple of years, with numbers in treatment rising from 1,861 in December 1996 to 3,675 in February 1999. The methadone protocol was introduced in October 1998 in order to regulate and control the supply of methadone.

The work of the Criminal Assets Bureau has been hugely important in targeting the assets of major drug dealers and the development of Community Policing Forums in local areas is an initiative to improve relations between Gardai and local communities. A Drugs Courts Planning Committee has been established and is looking at the setting up of a pilot drugs court programme in the Dublin District Court.

Underlying all of these achievements has been the continuing commitment of local communities to tackling the drugs crisis. The Task Forces have enabled local communities to access resources to develop the activities that so many people became involved in on a voluntary basis. Community-based training programmes for drugs.workers are enabling community activists to develop and enhance their skills in relation to drugs work.

So it is clear that there have been a number of achievements in tackling the drugs crisis since the first Citywide policy document in May 1996. Despite these achievements, Citywide must state unequivocally that the drugs crisis continues.