Source: The Examiner (Ireland)
Copyright: Examiner Publications Ltd, 1998
Pubdate: 18 Dec 1998
Contact:  http://www.examiner.ie/
Author: Linda McGrory

DRUG ABUSE LEADING TO AIDS

ALMOST half of all AIDS infection in Ireland is caused by intravenous drug
abuse, the second highest figure in Europe, an EU survey reveals.

The report also shows that Irish teenagers are abusing drugs more often and
in greater quantities than their European counterparts.

Over 43 per cent of AIDS sufferers in Ireland contracted the killer disease
by injecting drugs, a figure second only to Spain, according to the annual
report into the state of the drugs problem in the EU.

Commissioned by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drugs
Addiction in Lisbon, the survey showed that well over a third of the
country's 15 to 16 year olds have used illegal drugs at some time or
another, including cannabis, ecstasy and heroin. Britain topped the poll of
the 15 member states however, showing 42 per cent of its teenagers have
abused illegal substances.

But Irish teenagers are also the youngest substance abusers in Europe, the
report found, with the average age of people treated for drugs last year
just 23-years-old compared to 29 as the European average.

Responding to the survey, the director of the European Cities Against Drugs
(ECAD), Cllr Con O'Leary, said he was not surprised at the figures in the
EU survey and said in some areas of the country, the figures would easily
be exceeded.

Cllr O'Leary warned that methadone treatment programmes introduced
throughout the country this year, could also lead to more abuse and addiction.

"People coming off heroin and given methadone often find themselves even
more addicted to the substitute," said Cllr O'Leary. 
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Checked-by: Richard Lake