Hi Eireann!

That is crazy that more people are using heroin in Kildare now then before the drought! They must be nuts to only start using heroin when the quality has become so bad. Fair play to you for getting clean Eireann, because trust me the gear is a waste of time these days. I have really cut back on using myself, instead of using every day i have cut right back to only using twice in every 2 weeks, & now i'm trying to not use at all! (fingers crossed!) I hope that i can be as strong as you!
The numbers of people using heroin in Dublin has dropped dramatically since the drought, the Doctors & councilors in my methadone clinic said that they have never seen anything like it! They have never seen so many people to get clean & stay clean at the same time. My pharmacist even said that a record number of people who are prescribed methadone at his chemist are getting take-away now, so that means that all of those people are clean as well. It seems that a lot of the older crowd have stopped using heroin in Dublin because the quality is so bad, its mainly younger people that are using now, people that wouldn't be as fussy. The heroin in Dublin looks & burns so well that you would swear to look at it that its really good gear, but it doesn't taste right & its weak, its all rubbish! So people just gave up, which is a good thing i suppose, but of course there will always be people who continue to use no matter what.
I was talking to a guy who works in The Merchants Quay Drug Center, he said that the needle exchange is not half as busy as it used to be before the drought, he said people that had been using the center for 30 years had gotten clean, he is thrilled to see so many people doing so well. I'm really interested in the effects of this drought & i'm always trying to find out what caused the drought, so i'm always asking questions in my clinic ect.
But yes there has always been a large % of heroin users that turned to crime to support their habit, especially in Dublin, shop-lifters were rampant! But with so fewer people using heroin in Dublin there will be less people turning to crime to support their heroin habit. But house brake-in's are on the rise in Dublin, Vincent Brown did a documentary about the rise in house brake-in's & other crimes in Ireland in the last 2 years, the info that they found showed that people were losing their jobs at a huge rate, men who worked in the building trade are now all on the dole, anyone with a trade is also on the dole, many shops & businesses are closing down daily. So all these people find them selves on the dole, & then the government keeps getting cut the dole back again & again & again. Many people have had the homes repossessed by the banks ect. The documentary found there was a whole new set of people turning to crime because people are simply broke, these are people who had never been in trouble with the police before. That has caused a higher % of crime rate in Ireland.
This country is in a mess & it is all down to the government & the bankers, not the heroin users, of course there will always be drug users who steal to support their habit, that has always been the way! But there seems to be a whole knew set of people turning to crime, they are desperate people who are living in poverty coz of the rescission. I'll try find a link to that documentary for you, it was really interesting. But Eireann you have defiantly done the right thing by getting clean & staying clean! Fair play to you!!!

Its also great to see so many people in my methadone clinic & in The Merchants Quay Drug Center/needle exchange getting clean & doing so well, so i suppose some good did come out of the drought!
