Crack cocaine in the Dublin region - Health Research Board

Like, I was down on M… Street in May this year and I must have been asked three or fourtimes was I looking for crack, was I looking for rocks. Whereas before you had to knowwhere you were going, you had to know who to ask, but they were openly asking were youlooking for rocks.Former crack user, unspecified location (October 2007)Participants in this study also referred to the emerging availability of prepared crackcocaine outside the city centre:There’s not a lot of people who know how to wash drugs properly. So these fellas are bringingin good coke, washing it up, they have their business, just say in Ballymun or Santry. They’llget somebody down here, probably a little 19-, 20-year-old to start selling rock for them. He’llstart selling and everyone will start buying it. So that’s how they get their business broughtdown to the likes of here.north-east Dublin, former crack user (October 2007)So, there is about four people in the community that could be named as dealers for crackcocaine. But, as I said, it’s only the last few weeks.Dublin 12, drug-treatment service (October 2007)10.3 Supply reduction: the challengesInformation from Operation Plaza suggested that crack cocaine was rarely imported inthe form of crack. Dealers were importing powder cocaine and selling to crack users whowould prepare crack cocaine themselves. According to the GNDU, non-Irish nationaldealers have quite a sophisticated importation system (GNDU, personal communication,19 May 2006). As noted above, unlike Irish dealers who, it is reported, will attempt toimport 10 kilos of cocaine at a time, non-Irish national dealers may employ 10 differentcouriers to carry a kilo each. Findings from this study suggest that prepared crack cocaineis available from dealers based both in the city centre and the suburbs.At the street level, the use of mobile phones has also become an issue. In 1997, at thebeginning of Operation Clean Street, mobile phones were not used to the extent thatthey are now. Their use has contributed to a less visible form of drug dealing. There area limited number of places where people can go and buy drugs openly on the street. Inthis study, crack users reported a number of risk-management strategies employed bydealers; the majority of these strategies were underpinned by the use of mobile phones.In light of greater attention from the gardaí, dealers were reportedly using a variety ofstrategies to avoid garda detection. These included carrying small amounts of crack toexchanges with users; depositing the drug in a hidden area for users to collect (ratherthan making an exchange); sending prospective purchasers to different areas of the cityinstead of making the exchange in the established city-centre market; and refusing todeal to unknown clients.Crack cocaine in the Dublin region: an evidence base for a crack cocaine strategy103