Crack cocaine in the Dublin region - Health Research Board

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From about 16 to 21 I would say – they would be using crack so. But again it’s sporadic it’skind of binge stuff as well like, they would be dealing and stuff and they would have peoplewho would be doing crack showing them to wash up and stuff… Some young people in thisarea would see it as attractive you know because older people were doing it.Finglas, drug-treatment service (October 2007)There was a perception that younger teenagers were not aware of the harmful natureof crack, and that its ‘smokeable’ form may give the substance a relatively harmlessimage:We feel that crack cocaine, the kids are smoking it like hash. Rolling it up in a cigarette andsmoking it but to them it’s not coke. You are trying to educate a young group it is a very,I suppose undereducated peer group – and they think we’re off our trolley telling them allthis…north-inner city, drug-treatment service (August, 2007)When we discussed a thing on Monday they said a lot of youngsters would also have crystalcocaine as well for smoking, you know that kind of way. That’s not crack cocaine but there’sa kind of a … it’s kind of baked into a crystal you know, it’s freebase you know…And evenat that … they sometimes think that they’re using crack cocaine, some of the younger ones,and they will tell you they’re using crack cocaine, and in actual fact sometimes it’s not,sometimes it is.Ballymun, drug-treatment service (December 2007)Three crack users interviewed indicated that young people in their locality were usingcrack cocaine:But the crack then came on the scene and it’s a big thing now. You know? Especially now inthese areas, and the sad thing about it is they’re only kids, you know, they’re only 15-yearolds,16-year-olds coming up to you selling it to you, you know. And then using it themselvesand smoking it themselves. You know. It’s sad like you know to see them being so youngselling it and that. You know.Clondalkin, current crack user (September 2007)I’m after noticing a lot like, three or four young fellas that I never thought… I don’t think theyrealise that smoking crack is every bit as harmful as injecting coke or heroin or anything likethat. And they’re kind of treating it as ‘I’d sniff a half ounce in a weekend, me nose is in bits,I’m bleeding on a Monday morning and all this stuff… Jaysus just smoke it’.north-east Dublin, former crack user (October 2007)Crack cocaine in the Dublin region: an evidence base for a crack cocaine strategy55
A number of service providers said that they were aware that there may be aproportion of younger, non-opiate-using crack cocaine users who binge on crackcocaine but do not engage with treatment services, primarily because they do notview their use as problematic and/or do not wish to be associated with the establishedcentres that have traditionally treated heroin addiction:But we know that we have a problem engaging with young people or young people have aproblem engaging with us because they are not at that stage, you know they are not at thatstage of seeing it as a problem or whatever so...Finglas, drug-treatment service (October 2007)There’s certainly a group of people doing crack that are not on methadone right, but weonly have rumours. We don’t have any definite evidence that this is the case, and they’re allreasonably young. You know late-teens, early-twenties at the most.Tallaght, drug-treatment service (October 2007)4.5 Education levels among crack usersEvidence of education levels among crack users was available from the NDTRS.Education levels in this group were low, with only three new cases having completedtheir Leaving Certificate or having attained a higher qualification (Table 4.3).Table 4.3Number of new cases who lived in Dublin and reported crack cocaine as a problemdrug, by highest level of education completed, as reported to the NDTRS, 2004 to2006Highest level of education completed Number %Never went to school 1 2.9Primary level incomplete 1 2.9Primary level 8 22.9Junior Certificate 14 40.0Leaving Certificate 2 5.7Third level 1 2.9Not known 8 22.9Total 35 100.04.6 Accommodation status of crack usersAs noted above, the proportion of homeless people (in 2003) who reported having usedcrack at some point in their life was reasonably high (Lawless and Corr 2005). Datafrom the NDTRS indicate that over one-third of new cases in the period 2004 to 2006were living in unstable accommodation (Table 4.4).56 Crack cocaine in the Dublin region: an evidence base for a crack cocaine strategy
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HRB Research Series6Crack cocaine i
Page 3 and 4:
This publication should be cited as
Page 5 and 6: HRB Research Series publicationsto
Page 8 and 9: ContentsList of tables and figures
Page 10 and 11: 7 Social consequences of crack use
Page 12 and 13: List of tables and figuresTablesTab
Page 14 and 15: AbbreviationsADRUGNDUHRBISCCSGLDTFN
Page 16 and 17: Glossary of termsBenzos: The street
Page 18 and 19: Executive summaryBackground and stu
Page 20 and 21: phone and buyers are directed to sp
Page 22 and 23: Part 1IntroductionCrack cocaine in
Page 24 and 25: In the light of these concerns, it
Page 26 and 27: extensive reporting in the US about
Page 28 and 29: Ten interviews were conducted with
Page 30 and 31: also offers potential to trace supp
Page 32 and 33: Part 2Crack cocaine in the Dublin r
Page 34 and 35: 2.2 Criminal justice data - cocaine
Page 36 and 37: Prevalence of crack use among homel
Page 38 and 39: Local survey dataA survey in 2006 o
Page 40 and 41: Respondent 1: I’d say it’s stil
Page 42 and 43: 3 Dublin crack cocaine market3.0 Ov
Page 44 and 45: sold on the street for as little as
Page 46 and 47: Like, I was down on M… Street in
Page 48 and 49: 3.4 Marketing crackFour interviewee
Page 50 and 51: While crack was generally bought al
Page 52 and 53: • Although a number of dealers, o
Page 54 and 55: 4.2 Crack use and genderAccording t
Page 58 and 59: Table 4.4Number of new cases who li
Page 60 and 61: 5.2 Crack and other drugsMany of th
Page 62 and 63: Whether treated cases reported crac
Page 64 and 65: cases of intravenous cocaine use, t
Page 66 and 67: Table 5.5Number (%) of new cases wh
Page 68 and 69: Part 3Consequences of crack useCrac
Page 70 and 71: etween heroin, cocaine and crime. T
Page 72 and 73: So, they would talk about the kind
Page 74 and 75: Crack and prostitutionNine services
Page 76 and 77: On the other hand, reports from two
Page 78 and 79: often with a prevalence of opiate d
Page 80 and 81: The data provided by the NDTRS in S
Page 82 and 83: But you know it would be about kind
Page 84 and 85: So, debt is another significant iss
Page 86 and 87: 7.6 Key findings• A significant p
Page 88 and 89: There are considerable long-term ps
Page 90: 8.3 Psychological consequences of c
Page 93 and 94: 9 Treating crack use9.0 OverviewIn
Page 95 and 96: Some services were in a position to
Page 97 and 98: Both opiate-dependent and non-opiat
Page 99 and 100: • more outreach work to identify
Page 101 and 102: 10 Policing crack markets10.0 Overv
Page 103 and 104: local communities. There is growing
Page 105 and 106: He’d know me, I’d know him, you
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Table 10.1 Number of new cases who
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108 Crack cocaine in the Dublin reg
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11 Discussion and research implicat
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11.2 Responding to crack markets an
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11.3 Reducing the harm that crack c
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Shoplifting, burglary and robbery w
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Bourgois P (2003b) Crack and the po
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Furey M and Browne C (2004) Opiate
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Loughran H and McCann ME (2006) A c
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San Diego Police Department (1998)
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Appendix A:An evidence base for tre
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note that providing information on
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MedicationsA number of studies have
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interpersonal psychotherapy. Americ
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Jurisdiction Intervention/Descripti
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Jurisdiction Intervention/Descripti
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Appendix C:Recent HRB series public
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140 Crack cocaine in the Dublin reg
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