A full-time Garda drug squad has been set up in the Westmeath/Longford Garda division, based in Athlone. The new squad is part of the response to a report on the priorities the public wants placed on crime.
Last week, ecstasy and other drugs with a street value of £4,000 were uncovered in Athlone, and in a follow-up operation in two licensed premises more drugs were seized.
While the authorities would not give any operational details of the squad, it is understood that eight officers will work full time on drug-related crime in the area.
They will be drawn from Athlone, Mullingar, Longford and Granard stations and will work closely with the Shannon river patrol group which was launched earlier in the month.
A Garda spokesman said the fact that a dedicated unit had been set up did not mean that the problem of drug addiction in the area was higher than anywhere else.
"It is a response to the demand for drug units by the public to the survey on policing which showed that the public wanted them to be put in place," he said.
He said that until now the fight against drugs was carried out by members in the area but now they would be working on the problem full time.
A conference in Athlone last week was told by an official from the Midland Health Board that there were 18 people in the Athlone area who had been using heroin and were now in a methadone programme, while a further eight were seeking access to such a programme.
It was also learned during the week that the drug-taking problem has spread to the Travelling community and in recent times there have been a number of convictions relating to such so-called "soft drugs" as cannabis.
There has been a broad welcome from community and other groups to the establishment of the full-time unit and it is understood that the other two midland counties, Laois and Offaly, will soon have a similar unit.