Drugs like ‘Spice’ widely used by younger people
The largest increase in drug abuse experienced by services of the Cornmarket Project in Wexford last year was among younger people using new psychoactive substances.
Paul Delaney, coordinator of the addiction treatment and rehabiliation service, said that while many of the substances contained in these drugs have been banned, the manufacturers are constantly changing the ingredients and formulas to try and circumvent the law.
‘ This type of drug use is very worrying as such drugs can distort the cognitive abilities of those who use them, placing them at even greater risk than the usual problems associated with overdose’, he said.
The drugs are sold in Wexford under names such as Black Mamba, Spice and Exodus. The Cornmarket coordinator cited an example of one person who was referred to the project following the use of ‘ Spice’, a synthetic cannabinoid which is highly addictive.
The young man took the drug in the mistaken belief that it was cannabis and it resulted in him carrying out a serious assault on another teenager with a subsequent criminal charge and appearance in court.
‘ This was a case of a teenager who had never been in trouble before and who had no violent tendencies, ending up so badly affected by adulterated cannabis that he literally did not know what he was doing’, said Paul.
‘You can only imagine how dangerous such drugs are and the really worrying aspect is that they are being commonly purchased over the internet’.
Last year, the Cornmarket Project dealt with 380 individuals who presented with problems associated with substance misuse. Of these, 56 people were using heroin; 145 were cannabis users; 48 were using cocaine and the remainer were poly drug users or those who were using a variety of drugs and were also having problems due to alcohol misuse.
The Wexford project is celebrating its 19th anniversary this year - in 1999, the year it was founded, 37 people sought support for drug misuse and this year the number is expected to be 430.