“In recent years, we had an explosion of crack-cocaine use and it’s not decreased since,” Grace Hill, co-ordinator of the taskforce.
“We’re seeing an increase across the board of cocaine use among women and mothers, in line with data nationally and around the EU. It’s been climbing for some time and it’s very concerning.
“One major concern is that it’s harder to support women and mothers with their recovery – childcare can be a huge barrier for women to participate in recovery programmes. Community childcare programmes are not equipped to handle people in addiction. And then there’s the added layer of being a mother and seeking help for something like this.”
The taskforce works with South Dublin County Partnership and the South Dublin County Council (SDCC) .
In west Tallaght, the taskforce runs an outreach bus that operates several times a week. Another service in the Killinarden area supports people with long-term recovery.
“Every community can be impacted by addiction but poverty can make this intensified, addiction is the result of some kind of trauma and this makes it worse,” Ms Hill said.
“Our research shows that areas like Tallaght, Ballyfermot, Clondalkin, Finglas and Ballymun are impacted differently by addiction because of the poverty in these areas. When addiction hits there, it’s intense. You’re layering it with poverty and social exclusion.
“Our job is to reduce that and make sure services and help are accessible.”
More recently, the taskforce has been working more closely with SDCC and Healthy Ireland to increase the number of community services locally.
Most families are affected by some kind of addiction
“Crack cocaine gives people a very quick hit and a very quick comedown off it – so you very quickly want to use again, it takes an awful lot of money to keep using it,” she said.
“When people come to us, they are usually dishevelled and dealing with a number of other complex issues. They might need help with homelessness, food poverty and harm reduction.”
The taskforce also supports people whose family are affected by addiction.
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News in 90 Seconds – October 20th
“Most families are affected by some kind of addiction, so if someone rings me, my job is to point them in the right direction and offer them the right referrals,” Ms Hill added,
“With family support, we’ve had instances where a mother was struggling to deal with her son who was schizophrenic and using substances, families like that need a lot of continued support.”
Ms Hill said the taskforce’s work focuses on understanding why people choose to use drugs and helping them deal with those reasons.
“It’s people trying to escape the reality,” she said.
“In our case, it’s people trying to escape poverty and mental health issues. Our work is to understand that first and offering them ways to come out of it.”
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme