There are 14 drug and alcohol task forces in the country and Trevor Bissett, co-ordinator of Clondalkin Drug and Alcohol Task Force, believes that the worst impacts of drug use are still disproportionately felt in the disadvantaged areas served by the task forces. However, new approaches are helping families in one area. In Clondalkin, The Drive Project aims to support people suffering from drug related intimidation and violence. It is, says Trevor, a serious attempt to help people in a difficult situation, people who may owe significant sums to unscrupulous, violent dealers. It sounds like the kind of service that other communities also need.
As Trevor explains, “Community projects are there to give support, they’re able to support the person individually. It’s not a great situation, if you have a huge drug debt, but at least if you are talking to someone about the issue, you might be able to get some perspective on it and some support around it.”
The word “Drive” in the project’s name stands for Drug Related Intimidation and Violence Engagement.
“They will refer you to a guard and there are certain protocols. If you are worried about being spotted with a guard they are supposed to meet you in plain clothes, there are a lot of things like that, that they have agreed on. I think you get a mobile number, so you don’t have to ring the police station, that means someone else in the police station doesn’t pick up the phone to you and it doesn’t become public knowledge or whatever. There are less ways that the information could get out, and that can help put people’s mind at rest.”
“The whole point of it is that you get the guards on board. That has been approved right up to the Department of Justice, whereas previously it was very hard to see where the connection was between the drug elimination protocols and any kind of legislation. It’s much firmer now, there’s a lot more buy in from the guards,” he says.
He says the project also has the potential to shine some more light on issues that are very much in the shadows.
“There’s a data capture piece as well. A big thing about drug debt intimidation is that while we know it’s an issue, we just don’t know the scale of it. There is a reporting piece that Family Support are doing anonymously on it, just to get an idea of the scale. That could drive change around legislation and it might attract more funding. I think they are rolling out Drive Liaison people to make sure it gets implemented properly.”
In Clondalkin some people have been helped with the provision of security for their homes.
“We have got some funding from South Dublin County Council, and I know Tallaght are doing this as well; providing a little safety package. There might be a security light if someone comes knocking at the door. Camera doorbells have been given out as well, so people don’t have to answer the door, they can look at their phone to see who it is, just in case.”
While drug debts are one very serious issue associated with the deadly business, there are others, and Drive also works to provide support to those affected.
“You might be interfering with someone’s trade or something, and that may lead to intimidation. It might not be drug debt intimidation, it might be another form of intimidation. If there are lads dealing at the end of your road or outside your garden, that can create a really stressful situation for people. Then the idea of reporting it to guards doesn’t appeal to a lot of people, because they may know who did it. This system will probably approach that in a better way.”
When people talk about business moving online they’re generally referring to things like the sale of clothes or groceries, but drugs have also gone online.
“There are huge changes in drug dealing, because of the internet for a start. There’s huge drug dealing happening on Instagram, on Telegram, lots of other messaging apps. Then you have this new scenario with young people on scooters.
“In our areas there are certain spots where you’ll be able to get a deal. But if you can’t get there the lads will jump on a scooter and deliver out to you. We’ve heard lots of things from the guards. They’re expensive, these scooters, the kids aren’t buying them by themselves.
“It’s quite young males generally using them, going off getting these scooters and getting attracted to this drug dealing lifestyle. I think the technology has really facilitated a new form of drug dealing. Between scrambler bikes and scooters it has become much more mobile.”
He says that the fact of children being exploited by drug dealers is “plain as the nose on your face”, but just because it is being seen doesn’t mean that it is not very challenging to tackle. “I think from a justice point of view, it’s difficult to do anything about it. That thing of young people being exploited and being dragged into it has always been there, but it has changed in that they are being brought in at a much younger age. There is a lot of concern about grooming now. You hear about kids getting trained on bikes from 10 or 11 years of age and being brought into it that way.”
He feels that greater resources need to be provided to reach these young people, who fall onto the very margins of society before they become teenagers.
“The issue isn’t to be punitive or to get the guards after them. It’s more about how do you identify these kids, how do you then get people to work with them. We haven’t got the resources, the youth services haven’t got the resources. These kids are very hard to engage. There have been some specialist programmes in some areas, really assertive outreach but we don’t really have the resources. That’s a gap that we have seen in the area. We applied for some justice funding last year, but we weren’t successful, but we’ll keep looking at those kind of things.”
The Clondalkin Drug and Alcohol task force was established in 1997, and the challenges it has seen have changed dramatically since then.
“Thirty years ago I don’t think we had mobile phones. That kind of stuff has definitely brought massive changes. Opiates, I think that’s something that by and large taskforces and communities really responded well to, and that the Government really responded well to, overall, although there were some failings there. There are other things that have evolved, the new psychoactives substances in the 2010s, all the head shops and stuff. There are all these global developments as well, the globalisation of the drug trade. That started in the 70s and has continued to evolve. It just keeps evolving.”
There are 14 drug and alcohol task forces, 12 in Dublin, one in Bray and one in Cork.
While drug use has grown exponentially over the years, Trevor says the worst impacts are still disproportionately felt in the disadvantaged areas served by the task forces.
“There are a range of factors, early school leaving, high youth dependency ratios, underemployment, loan parenting. There are a lot of factors that leave some areas at more of a disadvantage if you end up with a substance use issue.
“The social capital thing, some people are much more able to access stuff. There’s private treatment. You would often hear of people being able to access treatment at Pat’s because they have private health insurance. Most people who come into our services wouldn’t even know where to start with private health insurance or anything like that.”
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