I wish to raise a serious issue. It relates to a young man who has been addicted to heroin for a number of years, who is endeavouring to get onto a detoxification and methadone treatment programme and has put his name down with the Mews Clinic.
The young man's name has been on the list since July, when he moved into the area. He is residing there permanently now. He was originally told that six months residence in the area was sufficient for acceptance on the programme but that has been increased to 12 months. The waiting list for the Mews Clinic in January this year was six but there are now 18 people on the list. The waiting list in the Eastern Regional Health Authority area was 390 in January and it has now increased to 529. We seem to be going backwards.
The Minister of State, Deputy Eoin Ryan, trumpeted the new national drugs programme which was to be delivered on a local and regional basis. It was to be decentralised in terms of delivery. The purpose of establishing local clinics was that each area would take care of its local population of drug addicts. That policy does not appear to be working. When I contact the Department of Health and Children, I am told there are no waiting lists but I have now received the official figures which indicate that not only are there waiting lists, but that they are growing – they have trebled in the case of my local clinic – in the space of 12 months.
This case involves a young man waiting to detox. He has made the decision and is committed to it. A heroin addict cannot wait forever because they go back to drugs very quickly. This young man has reduced his intake, although he is still an illegal consumer of heroin. He is now trying to get on a programme which will assist him to get off heroin. He is trying to get a job and build a stable life with a companion. However, when he presents himself at the clinic, he is told that the waiting list has trebled and that the length of time he must be living in the locality has doubled from six to 12 months.
We are supposed to be getting to grips with the biggest drug problem, heroin, in the country and particularly in Dublin where the problem is mainly concentrated. I do not know what is happening. I thought the resources, personnel and programmes had been put in place. I am a member of the local drugs task force where I raise the issue of the lengthening queues at every meeting. All I hear is the Minister clapping himself on the back for his wonderful strategy. He claims treatment is now provided on a community basis and that the community is participating in its implementation. However, although that is useful in terms of capital expenditure on the provision of youth facilities, it is not doing anything at the coal face, where people who are anxious to kick the habit and to leave the illegal activity in which they are engaged are prevented from doing so. I would have expected the Department to be desperately inviting people to participate on a programme and to be overjoyed to encounter somebody who is prepared to commit themselves to it, rather than closing the door and shunning them. He is told to return in another six months but at that time he might be told there will be a further six month wait.
It is disappointing that the situation appears to have deteriorated despite all the tragedies that have happened. Yesterday, I was in Buckingham Street for the switching on of the Christmas lights for the people in the area who have died from drug abuse. Nearly 200 young people from that little locality, many of whom I knew to be fine young people, got into the drugs habit and died extremely young as a result. We still have not learned the lesson that we must provide a decent treatment service for them.
I hope the Minister of State's reply will allow me to assure this young man that he will be received into a detoxification and maintenance programme and that it will provide hope for the hundreds more people who are waiting to get onto such programmes.
