More than 5,000 people are receiving treatment for heroin addiction in the three health board areas serving Dublin. The waiting list for places is more than 200. It is estimated that 13,000 people take heroin in the Dublin region. The Merchants Quay Project disclosed earlier this year that there was a 28 per cent increase in the use of its open access services, with increasing trends of young drug-users sleeping rough and young people injecting.
The centre treated more than 2,500 heroin-users last year, a quarter of whom were new users.
The Dublin City and County Coroner's office recorded 86 drug-related deaths for 1999 - an increase of 16 on 1998.