THERE are as many as 8,000 drug addicts in greater Dublin, concentrated in social "blackspots", the Minister of State for Commerce, Science and Technology, Mr Pat Rabbitte, said yesterday.
The drugs crisis, linked with crime, was "probably the greatest single problem facing the capital", he told the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland conference in Ennis, Co Clare.
The Minister was speaking two days after the publication of the report by the Ministerial task force on measures to reduce the demand for drugs.
The Government has allocated £14 million to implement the recommendations of the report and has said it will eliminate waiting lists for drug treatment in 1997.
A Cabinet drugs committee, chaired by the Taoiseach and comprising relevant ministers, is also to be established.
Mr Rabbitte said Ireland's heroin problem was principally a Dublin phenomenon, with the core areas of concentration of opiate abuse and addiction in the greater metropolitan region, with a second cluster in Cork.
It was estimated there were up to 8,000 addicts in greater Dublin, concentrated in "communities, blackspots that are also characterised by large scale social and economic deprivation and marginalisation".
Illegal drug production, manufacture, trafficking and distribution was a gigantic global business which persisted, however high the risks of seizure, he said.
A high level of international cooperation was needed and the Irish EU Presidency had sought to give priority to action to address the supply problem.
National action was also needed to tackle money laundering to enable the assets of criminals to be seized. Mr Rabbitte said he would consider the policy document prepared by the pharmaceutical society on drug abuse.