Drugs services facing crisis

DRUGS services will be shut down or scaled back over the coming months due to funding cuts, according to senior figures in local drugs task forces.

This week drug treatment providers and addiction specialists will gather in the Gresham Hotel on O’Connell Street as part of a new campaign aimed a protecting services in the face of ongoing cutbacks.

The campaign is being organised by Citywide, a network of community activists and organisations involved in responding to the drugs crisis, and is supported by the National Voluntary Drugs Sector.

Campaigners say cuts to health in last week’s budget will filter down to frontline services and could result in doors closing on those seeking help with drugs and alcohol problems.

Earlier this month the Blanchardstown Drugs Task Force launched its own campaign to defend drug and alcohol services in Dublin 15 and will be represented at this week’s meeting in the Gresham.

The local task force says it had been warned by Government sources that its funding was to be cut for the sixth consecutive year in last week’s budget.

“On behalf of the people of Blanchardstown who are affected by drugs and alcohol misuse, we wish to protest in the strongest possible terms at this unwarranted attack on local services,

? a spokesperson said.

“More cuts now will be a direct assault upon the weak and the damaged people of our community.

?

The task force has had its funding slashed by 23 per cent in recent years, resulting in cuts to 15 local drugs services.

And despite the cuts, task forces have been lumbered with the extra responsibility of providing alcohol treatment services under the Government’s National Substance Misuse Strategy.

Co-ordinator of the Greater Blanchardstown Response to Drugs (GBRD), Philip Keegan, said he feared for the future of the project and was looking for support from the local community.

“Because most projects are funded through the Department of Health and the HSE, any cuts have a knock on effect,

? he said.

“We won’t know for a couple of weeks what the specifics are.

“Youth services have been drastically cut over the last couple of years. We had to let somebody go last year and I don’t know what we’ll do if we’re cut back any more.

“We’re really working to the bone here. We’ll be lucky if we have enough money until the end of the year. Personally I’m not confident for next year. And it’s not just us. All services everywhere are under threat.

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Chairperson of the Blanchardstown Drugs Task Force, Tony Geoghegan, said the last few years have been hectic and a struggle to keep crucial services running.

“We’re trying to retain what we have and provide some services because it’s been all downhill in terms of funding traffic,

? he told Northside People.

“Task forces were set up to respond to emerging trends on the ground but they haven’t been able to do that because there has been no new money provided.

“We will certainly be looking at cutting back hours or services entirely. Everybody has been pared back so much we’re now at crisis point.

“Drugs are obviously a life or death thing and unfortunately people do die if you’re not able to provide services.

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Mr Geoghegan also said the National Substance Misuse Strategy, which was designed to create responses to drugs and alcohol problems, wasn’t working due to a lack of funding and political will.

“There’s very little happening with the strategy,

? he added.

“It’s all falling apart.

?

“On paper, Ireland has a great partnership model with the community sector, the voluntary sector and the statutory bodies all working together and it all sounds fantastic. But that’s all it is – on paper. And this model is being sold across Europe, but the actual structure and mechanisms aren’t working because the Government has dismantled them.

?