Crack cocaine in the Dublin region - Health Research Board

Views expressed by representatives of individual drug-treatment centres andrepresentatives of the social services interviewed for this study suggest that themajority of crack users known to drug-treatment services are relatively older and havea history of problematic use of a number of drugs, which in most cases includes heroin.It’s not a drug that we have seen spread to the wider community, as I said. There is polydruguse there involved with it and a lot of older addicts who possibly would have been off heroinand on methadone have possibly slipped back into that, you know.north-inner city, Garda memberI suppose the main users that we are seeing coming through using the cocaine and the crackare ex-opiate users and the majority of them would be on maintenance programmes fromthe clinic.Clondalkin, drug-treatment service4.4 Crack use among young peopleWhile a substantial proportion of problematic crack users seeking treatment may beaged 25 years or over, there is evidence that crack is used by younger people. TheNDTRS reports that of the 35 new cases reported between 2004 and 2006, 37% (13) hadbegun using crack cocaine before the age of 20 (Table 4.2).Table 4.2Number (%) of new cases who lived in Dublin and reported crack cocaine as aproblem drug, by age commenced use, as reported to the NDTRS, 2004 to 2006Age commenced use, in years Number %12–19 13 37.120–29 18 51.430–34 1 2.9Not recorded 3 8.6Total 35 100.0A small number of drug-treatment service personnel and crack users reportedanecdotal or second-hand evidence of use among young people. In one area, peoplein their mid- to late-teens were reportedly involved in selling amounts for local dealersand being paid partly in crack:54 Crack cocaine in the Dublin region: an evidence base for a crack cocaine strategy