Big rise in drug-abuse treatment

The numbers seeking treatment for drug abuse in the mid-west increased last year by 30 per cent on 2000 figures, it emerged yesterday.

In a Mid-Western Health Board report on drug misuse in the region, the report recorded that 424 people showed for treatment last year. This is compared to the 2000 figure of 327, an increase of 30 per cent.In five years the numbers being treated for drug abuse in the region have doubled from 210 in 1997 to 424 last year.

Over one-quarter of those treated last year said heroin or methadone was their main drug of misuse, an increase of 30 per cent on the previous year, while those showing for cocaine misuse increased by 75 per cent to 21. According to the report "the typical client presenting for drug treatment is male, in his late teens or early 20s and living in the family home".