42 CRACK COCAINE DEALS
RTÉ documentary captures scale of the ‘rock’ crisis in our capital FOUR HOURS IN A SENIOR CITIZENS’ HOUSING COMPLEX...
The intense high lasts only seconds
RTÉ has filmed 42 crack cocaine deals taking place over four hours at a senior citizen housing complex in Ballymun.
The RTÉ Investigates special, broadcast last night, showed open drug dealing even as gardaí walk by.
The camera, hidden in a car, recorded open-air dealing at the Dolmen Court housing complex over five days. The location is chosen by the dealers because there are many exits in case of a Garda raid, and because the frail and elderly residents are less likely to confront them.
Dealers could be seen coming close to the window of the RTÉ car, along with a money man who came to collect their day’s takings. Shortly after that, two gardaí walked by and exchanged a brief greeting with the dealers. A man in a tie and business shirt was also seen buying crack cocaine just inches from the camera.
The RTÉ Investigates team recorded the footage last month. On the first day, undercover cameras filmed over 42 potential drug deals in just a four-hour period.
In the 15 minutes it took for children to pass on their way home from primary school, cameras recorded at least nine deals, some taking place in front of the children. The footage also showed a toddler standing beside a woman as she asked a dealer for heroin.
Ballymun has the highest opiate addiction rate in the country, ten times the national average. The programme explains that the intense high from crack cocaine lasts only seconds, while the craving for more leads some people to smoke heroin. The heroin is said to relax them, allowing them to feel the next crack hit even more. A rock of crack costs €20 and a bag of heroin costs €15.
An addict who spoke to RTÉ explained that the dealers aggressively market their product, saying that dealers text him at 7.30am to tell him they have crack and where he can get it. He said the texts persist all day.
The man, whose face is blurred out, also talked about the shame and disgust of smoking crack, especially as care for children comes secondary to a crack addiction. This can place him in a vicious cycle, he explained, in which he takes more crack to escape his feelings of shame.
RTÉ Investigates – Crack and the Community is available on the RTÉ Player.
In a statement, An Garda Síochána said, there are currently 31 gardaí assigned to the Divisional Drugs Unit in the North Dublin Area, almost 10% of the Drug Unit gardaí in the country.
They also point out that they do not have any blanket or general powers of stop and search.
Dr Anne Marie Carew, Research Officer for the Health Research Board, told RTÉ Investigates that from 2014-2020, there has been a 400% increase in the numbers seeking treatment for crack cocaine addiction, from a low base of approximately 84 cases seven years ago. The figures only reflect users who come forward for treatment, so the scale of the problem is suspected to be much worse.