Drugs crisis ‘a blizzard’ across the whole county

Galway has been flooded with extremely potent supplies of cocaine and cannabis in recent months, a HSE addiction specialist has warned.

Speaking about cocaine use at this week’s County Galway Joint Policing Committee (JPC) meeting, HSE Clinical Specialist in Addiction, Joe Treacy, said “it’s not snowing in Galway, there is a blizzard”.

The meeting was also warned that “drug debts” were fuelling crime and anti-social behaviour across the county.

Speaking at Monday’s meeting, Mr Treacy said that recent screenings of drug users in the county have revealed cocaine with a potency of up to 94% and a strain of Moroccan cannabis with previously unseen levels of THC, the drug’s main psychoactive component.

He said that the drug problem in Galway was the worst he had seen in his 28 years working in addiction in Ireland, Australia and the United Kingdom. Mr Treacy said that urgent investment is also needed to create a residential treatment centre in Galway.

“It is not snowing in Galway, there is a blizzard. The purity of the cocaine we are seeing here is very high, it’s 93 or 94%.

“It costs just €15 to €20 for a screening test. If we drug-tested everybody on a Monday morning, we’d have a lot of red faces. It is so easy to access drugs at the moment. I don’t know of any village or small townland that drugs have not invaded.

“I’ve been working in this area for 28 years and [the drug problem in] Galway is the worst I have ever seen.”

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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