Madam, - There appears to be a proliferation of drugs in this country. To the best of my knowledge they are not manufactured here. Therefore, Ireland being an island, they have to be imported from overseas.
I know little or nothing about the subject but can only conjecture that regular supplies must use regular routes. It should not be beyond the realm of imagination that such routes could be noted and closed off. Maybe the suppliers do go to a great deal of trouble to conceal their actions but I think that this is hardly the case since the demand is such that supplies must be incessant.
Could it be that the drugs are coming by the lorryload by boat? If so, what preventive actions are being taken? Not many, if the prevalence of supplies is evidence.
I have travelled to England and the Continent on very many occasions over the years but have never been searched. I can only assume my fellow travellers were treated in the same way. I cannot vouch how lorry drivers are treated but have never seen any deliberate assessment of loads. Whether or not there exists a system of detection that does not entail searching is more than I can say but the proof of the pudding would appear to be in the eating, or sniffing.
I would finally like to say that I am appalled by the casual attitude to drugs that exists in Ireland. What is being done to prevent their importation is, obviously, not good enough. What is being unearthed is, I believe, only a sop to the searchers. The trade carries on unperturbed. - Yours, etc.,
MICHAEL O'CARROLL,
Newtown Heights,
Tramore,
Co Waterford.