The illegal drugs trade in the Republic was worth about €1 billion in 2005, provisional figures obtained by The Irish Times reveal. The data also shows Ireland's cocaine problem is growing rapidly.
This year 300kg of cocaine with an estimated street value of €24 million was seized by gardaí. This represents a near doubling on the 167kg seized in 2004 and is a 16-fold increase on the level of cocaine seized in the State in the last five years, when 18kg were intercepted in 2000.
The new figures for main drug-type seizures reveal gardaí seized €75 million worth of cannabis resin, cocaine, ecstasy, amphetamines and LSD so far this year.
It has long been accepted internationally that drug seizures represent about 10 per cent of the drugs trade in any country. That means the drugs trade here, based on the provisional Garda figures, was worth €750 million this year.
However, the figures obtained by The Irish Times do not include seizures by Revenue's customs officers or any data for less popular drug types such as the many sedatives used by chronic drug users.
When the full set of figures becomes available next year, total seizures for the year will be about €100 million, indicating that the trade here in 2005 was worth €1 billion.
Senior Garda sources said that while the increase in drug seizures indicated a growing drugs trade here, it was also evidence of the success of the Garda National Drugs Unit during the year.
Some six tonnes of cannabis resin, with an estimated street value of €42 million, were seized in the Republic this year. This was up from 3.5 tonnes in 2004.
This year's seizure figures puts the total value of the cannabis resin trade at €420 million. Cannabis remained by far that most popular drug of 2005, followed by cocaine, of which €24 million was seized.
Ecstasy was third-most popular, with some 500,000 tablets seized worth about €5 million, a drop on the 1.2 million tablets seized last year. Heroin seizures for the year reached 15kg, valued at €3 million, down from 26kg seized in 2004.
There was just one seizure of LSD during the year. Some 65,000 tabs, valued at up to €650,000, were found in luggage at Dublin airport in April. The popularity of the drug had plummeted in recent years, with just 300 tabs seized in 2004.
News of the very sharp increase in the size of the cocaine market here will come as a cause for concern for gardaí and public health experts dealing with the fall-out from the drugs trade.
Gangland-style murders in the Republic have numbered 18 this year, up from just eight in 2004. At least nine of these deaths were linked directly to serious drug dealing. A further three victims were involved on the periphery of the drugs trade.
Many of the gangs involved in murder and serious gun crime in the last 12 months are known to gardaí as cocaine dealers.
Meanwhile, public health experts have warned for some time of the dangers of cocaine gaining a stronger foothold in Ireland.
Dr Des Corrigan, chairman of the National Advisory Committee on Drugs - which advises the Government on drug policy - has said Ireland may already have a serious cocaine problem.
He has said there is always a time lag between the beginning of an epidemic and the point at which many users begin presenting for treatment.
While heroin addiction can be treated by prescribing the replacement drug methadone, there is no similar replacement drug for cocaine. This makes cocaine addiction much harder to treat.
Many gangs who had been involved in the heroin and ecstasy trade have now turned to selling cocaine. With about half of the State's 15,000 heroin addicts now availing of methadone maintenance, the demand for the drug from these addicts is not significant.
The number of heroin addicts in the Republic has remained steady at around 15,000 for the last number of years. Much greater volumes of cocaine compared with heroin need to be taken by chronic drug users to get the same hit.
This means a chronic cocaine habit is much more expensive, making the drug more lucrative for drugs gangs.
Similarly, ecstasy has peaked in popularity and many of those who would have used the drug are now turning to cocaine. A night's supply of ecstasy costs about €30 for most recreational users but cocaine for one night would cost about €100.
