by Alan Jacques
THE director of the Limerick-based Ana Liffey project for those experiencing problems with substance abuse says that smarter thinking is needed in deciding how taxpayer funds are used to tackle drug abuse.
Tony Duffin told The Limerick Post that a vast amount of resources are funnelled towards supply control interventions, despite scant evidence for their long term effectiveness in limiting access to, or use of, drugs.
He believes a more sensible approach would be to structure interventions to limit harm.
“The truth is that simply increasing law enforcement interventions has increasingly limited returns, and can have hidden harms to communities, such as increased levels of violence as people engage in ancillary criminal behaviour to recover losses from cash and drugs seized during crackdowns,” Mr Duffin explained.
From his experience working in the area, he is convinced there is a need for both ‘top down’ and ‘bottom up’ approaches.
Using Limerick City as an example, he said: “There are a few broad things we can say about drug use in Limerick City. First, Limerick City has a population of injecting drug users. Second, there is likely to be heroin use – though we know people inject other drugs too. Third, the people that engage in street drug use in Limerick City, as elsewhere, can have complex and multiple needs beyond using a single substance – homelessness, poly-drug use, trauma and comorbid mental illness are all things people present with regularly.”
Mr Duffin said these local issues are important because they inform responses at a policy level. The fact that there is injecting drug use points to the need for comprehensive needle and syringe programmes to limit the spread of HIV, Hepatitis and other health issues associated with sharing injecting equipment.
“It also tells us that staff of addiction services need to be well versed in opiate use, and that opioid antagonists like Naloxone would be of significant use among the drug using population in Limerick City if we wish to reduce the number of fatal overdoses.
“The fact that people have complex and multiple needs tells us that there is likely a gap in residential treatment provision, since groups with complex and multiple needs typically have difficulty accessing current residential treatment services. It tells us that we need to be set up to cater to this group of people,” he said.
