Rise in heroin use in Galway top priority for policing body
The growing heroin problem in the city is going to be a priority for the new incoming chair of the Joint Policing Committee in Galway.
Councillor Mike Cubbard said he was aware of a growing drugs problem, and in particular heroin, in Westside but he stressed that the problem was not confined to that part of the city only.
“I know for sure that heroin is a problem in the Westside because I get calls from residents telling me they come across used needles and that users were seen ‘shooting up’ in Rahoon Cemetery.
“All weekend my phone was hopping about this drugs problem in the local community but it’s all over the city. I have already written to the Garda Superintendent asking for more Gardaí to be seen walking the streets in the Westside as a deterrent and also to ask what they plan to do about drug dealing and drug abuse in our locality,” said Cllr Cubbard.
Through his voluntary work as a sports coach, Cllr Cubbard is all too aware of the effects of drugs on young people.
“I have seen a lot of young people dropping out of sports and getting involved in the vicious circle of drug taking and drug abuse and it breaks my heart.
“Earlier this year, I raised the issue of the growing number of suicides in the area and the two are not unrelated.
“When I become chairman of the Joint Policing Committee next month, I intend to increase my campaign against drugs in the whole city. I might be more aware of the problem here in the Westside but I believe it is a growing problem for the whole city,” he added.
Residents had informed him they found used needles in laneways in Inishannagh Park, in the disused playground behind the Westside Library, in the local cemetery and anywhere where users could shoot up away from prying eyes.
He said he has also asked the City Manager to consider putting CCTV in the Westside Sports Campus as a deterrent and to ensure that the new facility would not become a haven for drug users.
“There’s no point in spending all that money on providing such a fantastic facility and to have it full of used needles and destroyed by other anti-social behaviour in a year’s time.
“But obviously as well as that there is a real heroin problem in the city and that too has to be addressed,” said Cllr Cubbard, who intends calling a public community meeting on the issue.