Crack cocaine in the Dublin region - Health Research Board

7 Social consequences of crack use for the user,the family and the community7.0 OverviewThis section considers international evidence relating to the social consequencesof problematic crack use. Findings from the NDTRS and in-depth interviews withcrack users and service providers on the relationship between crack use and socialconsequences are examined. Debt, family break-up, homelessness, loss of economicopportunity and neglect are interlinked themes in this section.7.1 Introduction: social consequences of crack useLike all problematic drug use, crack can cause serious disruption in people’s lives.Crack use is compulsive and, for some people, the pleasurable effects of crack‘precipitate and sustain use to a greater extent than is the case with heroin’ (HomeOffice 2003: 7). As Section 6 of this report underlined, an addiction can be associatedwith violence, crime and prostitution. And, as is the case with all problematic drug use,crack use can have serious additional social implications for users, their families andthe wider community.At a personal level, relationships with spouses or partners may suffer and it maybecome problematic for users to sustain any level of formal employment (Sterk 1999;Reinarman et al. 1997). The link between homelessness or transient housing andcrack use has been documented in international research (Wincup et al. 2003). At acommunity level, the use and distribution of crack cocaine can pose problems forresidents and local businesses (Connolly 2006a). International evidence suggests thatareas which host open crack markets are adversely affected in terms of economicdevelopment (Home Office 2003; San Diego Police Department 1998). Other unsavouryconsequences of local open crack markets include discarded drug paraphernaliasuch as pipes and needles, and sex workers soliciting in public (Home Office 2003;San Diego Police Department 1998). Street-level drug markets, in particular, mayexacerbate crime and anti-social behaviour, which can contribute to significantcommunity disintegration and heightened security fears (Connolly 2006b; INCB 2004;EORG 2003; Lupton et al. 2002; White and Gorman 2000).7.2 HomelessnessIn Ireland, just under 21% of drug users commencing treatment in 2006 were inemployment and 5% were homeless (Reynolds et al. 2008). As outlined in Section 2above, Lawless and Corr (2005) reported that 19% of homeless people had used crackcocaine at some point in their life and 3% were using crack cocaine in the month priorto the survey.78 Crack cocaine in the Dublin region: an evidence base for a crack cocaine strategy