Loyalist paramilitaries have been allowed to build drug empires in their areas due to the current "policing vacuum", the Sinn Féin president told a west Belfast drugs conference.
Addressing about 100 organisations and individuals at the West Belfast Community Drugs and Alcohol Conference yesterday, Mr Gerry Adams said it was a "scandal" that prominent drug dealers were allowed to flaunt their wealth by the security forces, which, he claimed, had turned a blind eye to their "anti-social behaviour".
"Their behaviour is tolerated by a system that has used loyalist organisations as counter-gangs in the war against republicanism.
"Their leaders flaunt their wealth. Big cars, big houses, lots of cash. And all with no visible means of income. And nothing is done," he alleged.
While a "holistic" multi-agency approach involving community groups, individuals and government agencies was the way forward, any efforts on the ground were hampered by the absence of an accountable representative police service, he said.
Mr Adams pointed to the Co Antrim town of Ballymena, known as the North's "drugs capital", as an example of drug problems allowed to spiral out of control because of a lack of focus by local political representatives.
"While we do not have a heroin problem in west Belfast we cannot be complacent. We do have a problem with alcohol abuse, with prescription drug taking, with solvent abuse and with elicit drug abuse such as cannabis, ecstasy and a growing problem of cocaine use."
A number of speakers referred to the "luxury" of not facing a heroin problem in the area - republican paramilitaries have been known to clamp down heavily on suspected dealers by subjecting them to punishment attacks. However, the "normalisation" brought about by the peace process could easily aggravate drug problems, several speakers warned.
The co-ordinator of the Falls Community Council's Drugs Project, Mr Gerry McConville, said it was vital to have an "all-encompassing network of services". Drug abuse was on the increase right across west Belfast, he said, with 500 new referrals to addiction services in the area last year. Across Northern Ireland the number of registered drug addicts increased from 120 in 1996 to 304 in 2000. Children as young as 12 often knew where drugs were available in their area or had even tried them, he added.