An average of 15 to 20 new drug-users presented themselves to the Merchant's Quay Project in Dublin each week last year for needle-exchange or treatment services, according to its annual report published yesterday.
A total of 960 new contacts were made by the project in 1998, 27 per cent of whom were teenagers. More worrying, the director, Mr Tony Geoghegan, said that over half of new clients had not been in contact with any other drugs service.
This reflected a situation where up to 6,000 of the city's estimated 13,420 opiate-users had no contact with such services, he said.
"These people are most at risk from infection from HIV and hepatitis C, particularly the teenagers who are still in their honeymoon period of drug use. They are most likely to be engaged in risky behaviour like using dirty needles, sharing injecting equipment, or overdosing, as well as causing a public nuisance."
Calling for the establishment of a city-wide community outreach service, he said: "The immediate priority must be to link young drug-users in with services - that means there should be outreach workers linking in with drug-users in the areas in which they congregate, promoting safer drug use, linking them with treatment, and helping to clear the areas of discarded needles and drugs paraphernalia."
Merchant's Quay has already applied for funding to Dublin Corporation to run such a project.
The annual report, which marks the 10th anniversary of the project, also found that 93 per cent of clients had experienced homelessness.
Mr Geoghegan said homelessness reduced the chances of successfully treating drug-users and increased the risk of relapse. He backed the call for an investment in social housing, and said special provision should be made to ensure swift access to housing for drug-users actively seeking treatment.
More than 80 per cent of participants on the project's Integra employment programme had no home to which they could return after completing the two-year EU-supported course.
In total, 25,738 clients visited the Merchant's Quay Project last year, an increase of 11 per cent on 1997. The average age was 24, and 512 were aged under 18.
Meanwhile, in a ceremony at Belfield last evening, the first 36 students to complete a course in drugs counselling and intervention skills sponsored by the project and UCD received their certificates.
