Joe Macanthony On A Way To Make Drug Barons Pay For Their Crimes

LAST week's award of $3 billion in damages against the Philip Morris tobacco company for causing cancer in 56-year-old Richard Boeken raises the inevitable question. Why can't the same approach be taken and similar damages be sought from our latterday drug dealers?

The evidence against them in Ireland is more compelling in the immediate damage than that marshalled against the tobacco companies in the United States. Our drug traders have created over 13,000 heroin addicts in Dublin alone, with up to 1,000 new ones appearing each year. The inner south city has an addiction rate among 15-to-24-year-olds the worst in Europe. Half of the Republic's prison population is addicted to drugs; over 80 per cent test positive to hepatitis C.

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