The illegal drug trade in Ireland is worth over €650 million a year, according to a new report by Health Research Board.
Cannabis has consistently been the main drug seized - accounting for 58% of all seizures in 2003
The report calculated the market was worth around €646 million in 2003 - based on an estimate that the amount of drugs seized by gardai in a year represented around 10 per cent of the amount imported.
The market for cannabis resin was estimated at €374 million, ecstasy at €129 million, cocaine at €75 million, heroin at €54 million, amphetamines at €10 million, cannabis herb at €4 million and LSD at €3,300.
Research officer with the Health Research Board (HRB), Johnny Connolly said: "These figures, which are likely to be an under-estimation and which do not cover all of the drugs available in the illicit drug market, give some indication of the scale of the problem".
Mr Connolly said: "Huge profits mean that initiatives aimed at deterring criminal organisations from involvement face major challenges."
Cannabis has consistently been the main drug seized - accounting for 58% of all seizures in 2003.
But cocaine seizures rose by 1,200% between 1995 and 2003. Since 2000, the quantity of cocaine seized has increased by around 500 per cent and a small number of crack cocaine seizures were made in 2003.
The number of heroin seizures dropped from 802 in 2001 to 660 in 2003 - the latest year for which figures are available.
Ecstasy is the second most commonly seized drug. The total number of drug seizures in the annual reports of the gardai decreased by 17.2 per cent between 2000 and 2003 - with 6,377 in 2003.
A kilogram of cannabis costing around €3,250 euro at wholesale level, when sold for €30 per quarter ounce on the streets, would return a profit of around €982.
The Garda National Drug Unit (GNDU) estimated the price of an ecstasy tablet at street level dropped from €22 in 1995 to between €10 and €15 in 2003.
Heroin is believed to sell at between €180 and €200 per gram on the streets.
In 2004, the price of cocaine fell from €100 to €70 per gram. It is estimated opiate users spend €14.6 million a year on the illicit heroin market.
But Mr Connolly said this was likely to be a significant under-estimate of the value of the illicit retail opiate market.
Mr Connolly said the increased availability of heroin may be due to the reported significant increase in poppy cultivation following the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The GNDU reported an increase in trafficking of cocaine in 2003, which may be due to a more mainstream use of the drug.
The main supply route for cannabis resin was from Morocco via, Spain, the Netherlands or the UK to Ireland.
Mr Connolly said surveys would suggest Ireland ranks highly relative to other European countries in terms of perceived drug availability.
The study 'The illicit drug market in Ireland, Overview 2' found ecstasy widely spread throughout the State but the number of ecstasy-related prosecutions dropped in all Garda regions in 2003.
Heroin-related prosecutions fell in the Dublin Metropolitan region but increased in the suburbs around Dublin.
Localised studies in Dublin have shown in some parts of the inner city there is a high exposure to a drug culture and the procurement of drugs is relatively easy.
PA