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Dealing With Drugs - 2003 Campaign
Drug Free Treatment Works
Dealing With Drugs Campaign
24th April 2003
PRESS RELEASE
The Merchants Quay Ireland Dealing with Drugs campaign in its final day focuses on drug free treatment as one way of working with problem drug users.
Drug-free treatment refers to those treatments that aim for the client to give up drugs for good. It encompasses residential treatment, drugs counseling and peer support groups such as Narcotics Anonymous. 
Drug Substitution Therapies Work
Dealing With Drugs Campaign
23rd April 2003
PRESS RELEASE
The Merchants Quay Ireland Dealing with Drugs campaign today focuses on drug substitution therapies as one way of working with problem drug users.
Drug Substitution Therapies involve providing problem drug users with legal access to drugs that would otherwise be obtained through illegal means. It aims to therapy is to minimize drug related harm by taking drug supply out of the hands of criminals and placing it into the hands of doctors and pharmacists.
Harm reduction strategies work
Dealing With Drugs Campaign
22nd April 2003
PRESS RELEASE
The Merchants Quay Ireland Dealing with Drugs campaign today focuses on reducing drug related harm.
Issues highlighted today include:
- Harm reduction strategies seek to highlight to the drug user that there are safer ways to use drugs both for the individual and for the wider community
- Participation in syringe exchange programmes is linked to a decrease in HIV risks and a reduction in injecting risk behaviour.
- Syringe exchanges are also effective in attracting drug users into services.
- Research indicates injecting rooms are beneficial in reducing drug related deaths, limiting public nuisance and linking people in with treatment services.
Over the past ten years Ireland has had one of the highest increases in opiate related deaths in Europe
Dealing With Drugs Campaign
18th April 2003
PRESS RELEASE
The Merchants Quay Ireland Dealing with Drugs campaign today focuses drug related deaths
Issues highlighted today include:
- The number of drug related deaths in Ireland have continued to increase from 7 in 1990 to 90 in 1999 while such deaths have in fact stabilised or decreased across the rest of the EU
- Injecting heroin users have 20 to 30 times higher risk of death than others of the same age across Europe
- Overdose accounts for the majority of drug related deaths in Europe
- The majority of overdose victims die alone
- Drug related deaths are highly preventable
Study shows 87% of women drug users at MQI were Hepatitis C positive
Dealing With Drugs Campaign
17th April 2003
PRESS RELEASE
The Merchants Quay Ireland Dealing with Drugs campaign today focuses on the relationship between drug use and HIV and Hepatitis C.
Issues highlighted today include:
- That there is only one full time needle exchange in Dublin for a least 15,000 heroin users. All other services operate for just a few hours each week. None are open in the evenings or at weekends.
- Drug users account for the highest levels of HIV and hepatitis C amongst the general population of Ireland.
- International and national research shows that needle exchange services are effective in reducing risk of HIV and Hepatitis C infection amongst drug users.
- Women report higher levels of injecting related problems despite shorter injecting careers.
- Needle exchange services are generally the first point of contact for active drug users and are proven to be highly effective in engaging drug users in treatment.
Drug Treatment Reduces Crime
Dealing With Drugs Campaign
16th April 2003
PRESS RELEASE
The Merchants Quay Ireland Dealing with Drugs campaign today focuses on the relationship between drug use and crime.
Issues highlighted today include:
- The rise in the numbers of drugs charges over the last few years
- The increase in the number of alcohol and drug related crime particularly serious crime
- The is a clear link between poverty and crime
- The fact that National and International research shows that both substance use and criminal behavior are successfully reduced as a result of involvement in drug treatment.
Problem drug use: The impact on families, communities and society
Dealing With Drugs Campaign
15th April 2003
PRESS RELEASE
The Merchants Quay Ireland Dealing with Drugs campaign today focuses on the effects of heroin use on the family, the community and society.
Issues highlighted today include:
- That every drug user is somebody's son or daughter, brother or sister, father or mother.
- The fact that children are less likely to develop drugs problems where there are strong and positive family bonds
- The link between problem drug use and childhood trauma
- The fact that many people living in communities with high levels of drug use feel stigmatised
Drugs Campaign Focuses on Poverty and Exclusion
Dealing With Drugs Campaign
14th April 2003
PRESS RELEASE
The Merchants Quay Ireland Dealing with Drugs campaign today focuses on the relationship between poverty and social exclusion and the drugs crisis.
Issues highlighted today include:
- The relationship between problem drug use and unemployment.
- The fact that more than three quarters of treated drug users left school early.
- The link between homelessness and drug use.
- The concentration of drug use in Irelands most disadvantaged urban areas
Merchants Quay Ireland Launches "Dealing with Drugs" Campaign
Dealing With Drugs Campaign
11th April 2003
PRESS RELEASE
New figures from Merchants Quay Ireland (MQI) released today (Friday 11th of April, 2003) have revealed that more than 10,000 heroin users have come to the organisation for help since 1997. This figure, which represents 1 in every 100 people in Dublin is contained in information released by MQI as part of their Dealing With Drugs campaign, which was launched today.
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