BACKGROUND: Shane Geoghegan was shot dead because his killers mistook him for the man they were sent to murder, writes Conor Lally Crime Correspondent

THE KILLING of Shane Geoghegan by one of Limerick's gangs is the most tragic development in the city's drugs feud since the murder of nightclub security man Brian Fitzgerald in 2002.

Both men were shot dead at point blank range close to their homes. Like Mr Fitzgerald, the early indications are that Mr Geoghegan tried in vain to run from his armed attackers.

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IRELAND HAS the fourth-highest rate of drug-related deaths in Europe, new research has found.

The Health Research Board's (HRB) first report on deaths among drug users found Ireland has 54.2 deaths per one million population, compared with the European average of 20.9. Only Estonia, Denmark and Luxembourg are ahead of Ireland.

The number of drug-related deaths here increased from 242 in 1998 to 400 in 2005, with a total of 2,442 people dying directly or indirectly from drug use over that period. The HRB has collated statistics on drug deaths from 1998 to 2005, but has additional figures on treatment up until 2007.

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SOCIETY needs to make a distinction between drug use and drug misuse and should consider the legal supply of drugs.

This call was made by veteran homelessness campaigner Fr Peter McVerry in a speech at a conference on drugs last night.

Fr McVerry said adults should take a "long and critical" look at their own drug use, namely alcohol and prescription drugs, such as valium.

"It is hypocritical to expect our young people to stay away from drugs, when we adults won't," he told the conference, organised by the Addiction Training Institute.

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A pilot scheme is encouraging druggies to kick the habit by giving them money to donate to charity

John Mooney Teenage drug addicts who agree to attend detoxification programmes will be offered a chance to get high on philanthropy instead.

Young substance abusers in Ireland will be given financial donations for their favourite charities to help them to kick their habits.

The Drug Treatment Centre Board (DTCB), an independent, government-funded organisation that offers support services to drug users in Dublin, has launched the initiative, which has already helped some addicts to rebuild their lives.

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The importance of dogs like Lulu, Chip and Storm in the hunt for smuggled goods is not to be sniffed at, writes Gemma O'Doherty

The afternoon flight from Amsterdam has just landed and Lulu the Labrador is getting ready to start work. Customs at Dublin Airport have received an anonymous tip-off that there may be a batch of cannabis on board. As the bags come in from the tarmac and the baggage belt starts to turn, Lulu looks up at her handler, a petite blonde called Lisa, and waits for a signal.

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THE ROAD Safety Medical Bureau was criticised yesterday by a judge for failing to test for the level of drug intoxication in a driver arrested by gardai. Ballyshannon District Court, Co Donegal, was told that a breath-test for alcohol on a young driver, Peter Gillen, proved negative.

But Garda Sean Flynn still had suspicions about the reason for Mr Gillen's unusual driving at 4.10am when he turned at speed into a housing estate without using his indicator. Mr Gillen, who was "very shocked, unsteady and very agitated", was arrested on suspicion of drug-driving and later gave a urine sample.

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LEADING drugs counsellor has warned that cutbacks in Government funding for drug services will be self-defeating and end up costing the State more in the long term.

Shay Pegley, general manager of Dublin-based Addiction Training Institute (ATI) Training and Education, said many drug treatment services were being asked to trim 2 per cent from their budgets because of cutbacks.

He said that such cutbacks, while not affecting present services, compromise the ability of drug rehabilitation facilities to plan for the future. Mr Pegley said there should be at least a 5 per cent increase in funding for the National Drugs Strategy in the next budget. The budget for this year is =8064 million, an increase of =8012.5 million on 2007.

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The Real Horror of Drugs Stems Not From Gangs Selling Them, but From Their Effects on Users, Writes Chris Luke

THE WONDERFULLY mischievous Mae West memorably skewered the perennial dilemma surrounding illicit intoxication when she quipped, "To err is human, but it feels divine!" And of course, it is a truth - almost universally acknowledged - that humans love to self-medicate, to seek oblivion and respite from the "grim predicament of existence", with whatever mind-altering substance they can get hold of, be it 21st century psychotropic or ancient herbal concoction.

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GARDAI HAVE appealed to the public to be more vigilant about the prevalence of cannabis factories usually in rented properties.

Three men, aged 24, 26 and 52, were arrested and files are being prepared for the DPP following a raid on a commercial premises at the Greenogue Industrial Estate, Newcastle, Co Dublin, last Friday morning.

The raids were carried out as part of Operation Vacuum, which has been going on for several months and is targeting criminals who are dealing in cannabis that is grown domestically and on an industrial scale.

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Twenty-five drug dealers in south inner Dublin have been cautioned by gardai that their lives are under threat arising from the bloody feud between the two Drimnagh and Crumlin-based gangs.

It is the largest number of such warnings ever issued in a single division.

Intelligence has led local detectives to intercept and prevent several murders, but sources say the threat to life is ever present, with gang members "floating around" looking for rivals and setting up people for assassination.

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Gangland wars have turned Dublin into the Chicago of the 21st century, a TD and chairman of a drugs task force in the Irish capital said last night.

Labour TD Joe Costello also revealed that a preliminary study by the Inner City Drugs Task Force has found that a majority of drug dealers arrested on serious offences were out on bail.

Costello made his remarks following two more gangland-related murders in north Dublin this weekend. Gardai have launched a murder investigation following the fatal shooting of a 33-year-old man in Finglas early yesterday. The victim was named as Trevor Walsh, from Valley Park Road in Finglas. He had been serving a three-year prison sentence for possession of firearms, but was let out on temporary release on Thursday.

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According to some new studies, smoking dope can seriously damage your ability to learn. Carol Hunt weeds out the truth

TWENTY years ago, while I was living in New York, Nancy Reagan was busy pushing her finger-wagging, "Just say 'No,'" anti-drugs campaign with little or no success.

Television ads warned of the terrible things that would happen to you if you dared inhale the Devil's weed, and teenagers fell around the place laughing as they watched and rolled themselves another joint.

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Cannabis Does Far More Harm to Your Brain Than You Might Think, Says Dr Harry Barry

RECENT research from Trinity College, Dublin, into the effects of chronic use of cannabis has confirmed what many GPs and psychiatrists have known for quite some time: namely, that it adversely affects the brain -- particularly the prefrontal cortex, our thinking, rational, logical brain.

Their studies related to evidence of memory loss, but there has been plenty of clinical and research evidence to show how chronic use can lead to depression, psychosis and schizophrenia.

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Statistics on heroin, cocaine and cannabis use here are starker than ever. Is it time to forge a new approach to how we tackle drugs and drug addiction? asks Carol Coulter. EARLIER THIS WEEK we heard that the number of heroin addicts on methadone maintenance programmes has now reached 10,000. The week before we heard that the number of people using cocaine has doubled since 2003, with a four-fold increase in certain parts of the country.

In May a conference was told that a survey of teenagers in the south-east had shown that 41 per cent of them had used cannabis, twice as many as their European counterparts, while almost 50 per cent had used some illegal drug.

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THE minister in charge of the drugs strategy has "serious concerns" about this year's cocaine awareness campaign, which cost in the region of UKP500,000.

John Curran conceded he has serious concerns that the state didn't get out the right message on cocaine to young people.

"Certainly, I don't feel the campaign really delivered a strong enough message," said Mr Curran. "I'm not sure running a single drug campaign is the way to go, I've serious concerns about it."

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JOHN CURRAN, the minister in charge of the National Drug Strategy admits that the approach has failed in its objective so far.

He wants the use of illegal drugs to be seen as socially unacceptable like drink driving.

For too long people tolerated drink driving, but the carnage on our roads served as a wake-up call. The victims were often young people overcome by the influence of alcohol and a sense of bravado. Their deaths were tragic but even more tragic were the deaths of so many innocent people killed by drunken drivers.

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A NATIONAL hotline to combat drug dealing is to be rolled out across the country from this autumn.

The confidential phoneline is aimed at providing "intimidated communities" a safe way to pass on information anonymously about drug dealing in their areas, and indirectly, to gardai.

The national programme is based on the success of two local initiatives in Dublin (in Blanchardstown and the north-inner city) which have assisted Garda inquiries, leading to the arrest of suspected dealers.

The joint effort by the National Drugs Strategy Team (NDST) and the Garda has received funding of E350,000 from the Dormant Accounts Fund and the Department of Justice.

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Illegal drug use in counties Galway, Mayo and Roscommon almost doubled between 2003 and 2007, data published yesterday shows.

Cannabis use in the same region increased from 12 per cent in 2002/3 to 21 per cent in 2006/7, a survey commissioned by the National Advisory Committee on Drugs (NACD) said.

NACD said almost 5,000 people aged 15-64 were surveyed in the National Drug Prevalence Survey in the Republic between October 2006 and May last year.

"This survey confirms that illegal drug use is a nationwide problem and highlights the need for a sustained commitment to tackle the problem in the years ahead," minister of state for drugs John Curran said.

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THE number of people who have tried or regularly use cocaine more than trebled in many parts of the country in the last five years, a new study revealed yesterday.

Cocaine was the second most widely used illegal drug nationwide after cannabis.

And the number of people using cannabis in the east coast area, including Dublin, doubled according to the Drug Prevalence Survey from the Regional Drugs Task Force.

The number who admitted to experimenting or using any form of illegal drugs in the former East Coast Area Health Board region jumped from more than a quarter (25.9pc) in 2002/03 to more than a third (38.4pc) in 2006/07, with cannabis the most widely used drug in 2006/07 (35.9pc) followed by magic mushrooms (10.5pc), cocaine (9.1pc) and ecstasy (7.6pc).

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DRUGS should be legalised because there is a "human right" to use them, according to a new book by an Irish criminal law expert.

Paul O'Mahony also said the war on drugs had "failed catastrophically" in Ireland, and across the world.

The Trinity College psychologist and criminologist said it was a "scandal" that enormous resources were being used to enforce prohibition. He said this policy had not only failed to lower drug use, but may have contributed to its increase.

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