Junior Cert students ‘were taking Valium’

November 2002

A consignment of valium was specially delivered to Wexford to coincide with celebrations following the Junior Cert results at the end of August, a councillor told a Borough Council meeting this week.

Commenting on a motion put forward by a Labour colleague, Cllr Anthony Kelly said people did not realise how serious the drugs problem in Wexford was.

The Sinn Fein councillor said that around the time of the Junior Cert results, ‘a lorry load’ of valium, or D-tabs as they were called, came into town, aimed at this age group.

He believed that many do not realise the potential danger of valium abuse, particularly as it can form a deadly cocktail if it is mixed with alcohol.

Various agencies were doing fantastic work with drug abusers, but in St. Senan’s Hospital, they did not have adquate facilities for dealing with them.

‘They are fed more tablets to keep them sedated, and are put in wards with old people,’ he said.

Cllr. David Hynes of the Labour Party won unanimous support from his Council colleagues for a call on the Government to use Criminal Asset Bureau (CAB) proceeds to fund drugs task forces in their fight against ‘the scourge of drugs’.

He said the Bureau’s annual report, published last week, revealed that approximately 75% of the cases dealth with were against dru dealers.

‘Unfortunately, while all these dediated people are working to tackle the problem, we still need much more in the way of prevention and treatment, to have any real chance of combating durgs abuse,’ he said.

Cllr Hynes said the ‘ill-gotten gains’ of the drugs dealers should therefore be put to use in the fight against drugs.