Drugs are freely available in every town in the north-west and it is parents who play the key role in keeping their children off them, said Sligo Chief Supt Austin McNally after the first seizure of a significant quantity of cocaine in the town.
Chief Supt McNally said the find confirmed the view that there was a market for cocaine in Sligo. In a search of a local man's house last weekend, gardai found 70 gms of cocaine and 600 ecstasy tablets, in the biggest seizure in the area. Its value was about £16,000.
"Ecstasy tablets are freely available in every town in this division. Every place where youngsters gather you will get guys pushing tablets," Chief Supt McNally told The Irish Times.
He said this find was significant because in the last seizure of cocaine about 18 months ago, only 1.5 gms were uncovered. However, larger seizures did not necessarily mean that drug use was increasing dramatically, he said. It could also be due to increased surveillance and the establishment of specialist units within the gardai.
A special Garda drug unit has been set up in Sligo and there is strong pressure locally in Co Donegal for a similar unit. Chief Supt McNally said gardai were aware of people using cocaine in Sligo. "While it doesn't manifest itself to any great extent, we can't afford to become complacent."
While there wasn't a problem with heroin as yet, they were always on the alert for the possibility of it being introduced, as there was evidence of it spreading out from Dublin into rural towns. "Dealers will sell anything they can to make money," he said. A number of people are known to be making a living from selling drugs in Sligo.
Ecstasy was generally targeted at teenagers from as young as 15 and cannabis use could start at an even younger age. Chief Supt McNally said studies had shown that parents had the most influence over their children and they should make themselves aware of the tell-tale signs of drug use.
Parents should also be aware of where their children were at all times and the company they were keeping.
Gardai were anxious to support a number of voluntary organisations such as the Aisling Group, which held its first meeting in Sligo recently, he said.
It aims to help parents and other adults dealing with teenagers. The director of the Aisling Group, Ms Marie Byrne, said it had been decided to set up 14 different groups in Sligo and Leitrim. Facilitators will be trained and drugs-awareness courses run for parents.
The 1998 report of the North-West Inter-Agency Drug Group, which has representatives from the health services, the Garda and Customs and Excise, showed that seizures of cannabis resin and ecstasy have increased dramatically since the mid-1990s.
In 1998 one consignment, intercepted en route to the north-west, made up the bulk of all the drugs found. Including this seizure of 3.3 kg of cannabis and 700 ecstasy tablets, the total seized in the year amounted to 4.95 kg of cannabis (equivalent to 34,400 joints) and 1,177 ecstasy tablets.
Finding ecstasy tablets can be difficult as a dealer can hold up to 5,000 of them in a jacket pocket. The report states that neither the seizure, prosecution, nor treatment figures gave a full picture of the extent or nature of the problem. In Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal, a total of 161 people were prosecuted in 1998 and 45 people sought treatment.
The co-ordinator of the group, Ms Bernie Hyland, said alcohol also had to be addressed as it still caused most damage of all. One worrying finding from research among parents was that they were often ambivalent about their children abusing alcohol. "They seemed to have an attitude that if they drink tonight, they'll be sober in the morning," she said.
Ms Hyland said the interagency group, which aims to cut both supply and demand, intended to target parents and other adults in its prevention work in the future.
The real danger of harder drugs being introduced even in small quantities was that once "a critical mass" of people was using them and it became worthwhile for a dealer to move in, then these drugs would filter down and become more widely available to even younger children.