Crack cocaine in the Dublin region - Health Research Board

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On the other hand, reports from two services and one user suggested that users maysell other drugs, such as benzodiazepines and methadone, to fund their crack habit.Users could legally obtain such medication through prescriptions from their GPs, andthey may also be in a position to obtain multiple prescriptions for tablets such asvalium or benzodiazepines by attending more than one GP:Probably sell a few of me own tablets that are after being prescribed from my clinic. Or I sellmy methadone. I am really not into robbing. I am too afraid. Years ago I would have. Butnow I wouldn’t. Too afraid.north-inner city, current crack user (October 2007)Yeah, through very illegal mad ways, some addicts are dealing themselves. Stealing, sellingtablets … we would have a couple of clients that are going to five or six doctors and they’regetting two months’ prescriptions off some of them. So, they are the ways it is being fed.Some are on methadone as well.Clondalkin, drug-treatment service (October 2007)One user in the study had previously dealt cocaine to fund a heroin and crack habit:I started using it regularly in ... I’m talking over six weeks in that it was the only drug that Icould manage to use… I robbed a drug dealer in [named town outside Dublin] and I cameinto a lot of cocaine and I was using it intravenously and washing it up and I had a lot ofit there. I didn’t need money to steal. I could sell the coke and buy heroin out of it. I wouldhave been heroin dependent, I suppose, the past four years and so I was selling cocaine tobuy heroin and using the cocaine that I had to make crack, you know. I could never afforda steady habit of crack cocaine. It’s very expensive. It was like a treat, do you know. If it wasonce or twice a week you were lucky, you know.Former crack user, unspecified location (October 2007)Young people dealing crackAlthough no drug-treatment services were aware of crack users’ dealing, three usersstated that young people were selling crack as well as using it.And the sad thing about it is they’re only kids, you know they’re only 15-year-olds, 16-yearoldscoming up to you selling it to you, you know. And then using it themselves and smokingit themselves. You know. It’s sad like you know to see them being so young selling it andthat.Clondalkin, current crack user (September 2007)Crack cocaine in the Dublin region: an evidence base for a crack cocaine strategy75
There’s that much around, like you have every second bleedin’ person selling it. You’retalking what maybe 14 or 15, I’ve seen some kids even less, I’d say only about 10, I’ve seenthem smoking it.Interviewer: And are they from the local area?YeahInterviewer: And how do they do they pay for it, how do they get it?They just have to go out and rob, do you know what I mean? They’re either selling it tosupport the habit or else they’re going out and robbing it but the majority of them is sellingit. That’s what I’d say to you. There’s that much around.north-inner city, former crack user (October 2007)6.4 Systemic crime: gangland violenceEleven participants, including both treatment staff and users, referred to risingincidences of violence in their localities involving violent assaults related to drug debt,gangland violence and fatal shootings. However, it is not clear whether such incidentsare related to crack cocaine or to other substances such as powder cocaine or heroin:Obviously there are dealers here but a lot of people come from outside. They come like nextto… the clinic here has just been closed off but every afternoon here there’s usually a deliveryand down in the [city-centre housing complex] is another place. So, the afternoons aren’t thebest of places to be going around here really you know. People are used to it you know theyjust know they are coming. They’ve threatened…the Guards have been quite active for otherreasons like there has been a lot of shootings and that here and the people would say that alot of that is related to crack cocaine as well; definitely the criminal activity has increased.north-inner city, drug-treatment service (October 2007)6.5 Common cause modelIrish research has consistently revealed that underlying social factors – such aseducational disadvantage, poverty and inequality – contribute both to problematic druguse and to criminal behaviour.With regard to the drugs-crime link, studies of drug users have found them typicallyto be single, aged between 14 and 30, male and urban based; many are still livingin the parental home and come from large and often broken families; they haveleft school before the legal minimum age of 16 and have experienced high levels ofunemployment, with their best-ever job being in the lowest socio-economic class; theyhave a high number of criminal convictions and high rates of recidivism, with a historyof family members being in prison; their profile is one of extreme social disadvantagecharacterised by being from areas with a high proportion of local authority housing and76 Crack cocaine in the Dublin region: an evidence base for a crack cocaine strategy
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HRB Research Series6Crack cocaine i
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This publication should be cited as
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HRB Research Series publicationsto
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ContentsList of tables and figures
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7 Social consequences of crack use
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List of tables and figuresTablesTab
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AbbreviationsADRUGNDUHRBISCCSGLDTFN
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Glossary of termsBenzos: The street
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Executive summaryBackground and stu
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phone and buyers are directed to sp
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Part 1IntroductionCrack cocaine in
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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 56 and 57: From about 16 to 21 I would say - 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 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
Page 107 and 108: Table 10.1 Number of new cases who
Page 109 and 110: 108 Crack cocaine in the Dublin reg
Page 111 and 112: 11 Discussion and research implicat
Page 113 and 114: 11.2 Responding to crack markets an
Page 115 and 116: 11.3 Reducing the harm that crack c
Page 117 and 118: Shoplifting, burglary and robbery w
Page 119 and 120: Bourgois P (2003b) Crack and the po
Page 121 and 122: Furey M and Browne C (2004) Opiate
Page 123 and 124: Loughran H and McCann ME (2006) A c
Page 125 and 126: 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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Crack cocaine in the Dublin region - Health Research Board

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