Aggression caused by crack cocaine forces Limerick pharmacists to quit needle exchange programme
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Limerick pharmacists are pulling out of the national needle exchange programme due to aggression caused by crack cocaine use, a council meeting has heard.
Philomena Carroll, a development worker with the Midwest Regional Drugs and Alcohol Forum, also warned members of a Limerick City and County Council SPC that the region's crack cocaine problem was not “fizzling out".
Her comments came in response to Labour councillor on Limerick City and County Council Conor Sheehan, who said there had been a large reduction in the number of Limerick pharmacies taking part in the needle exchange programme.
The programme operates in more than 100 pharmacies countrywide and allows service users to pick up sterile injecting equipment and return used items.
Mr Sheehan also claimed Limerick now finds itself "in the middle of a crack cocaine crisis".
Ms Carroll conceded they were witnessing a large amount of crack cocaine use in the region:
"Along with the crack cocaine will come aggression. What we're seeing is individuals who use crack cocaine becoming very aggressive."
She said she believed that, at present, only two pharmacies are still providing needle exchange services in Limerick.
Ms Carroll said while she does not have “a direct say” in the programme, she could verify that aggressive behaviour on the part of services users was the reason pharmacies had left the scheme.
A lot of pharmacies had pulled out of the programme due to safety concerns for their staff, she said. “It’s not ideal, but it is understandable,” she added.
Ms Carroll said that, in terms of narcotic trends, a lot of drugs can “come to the surface” for a period before the number of users drops again.
She said history had shown drug users will return to the “old reliables”, adding that heroin had been an ever-present problem in Limerick. “But the thing with crack is it is not fizzling out, it's staying,” Ms Carroll said.
The HSE, which operates the needle exchange programme, said: "HSE Mid West Community Healthcare (CHO3) continues to work closely with pharmacies throughout the region in relation to pharmacy needle exchange and methadone dispensing.
"Over the last two and a half years, community pharmacies have been centrally involved in the ongoing provision of care and treatment to many of our most vulnerable clients in the context of COVID-19, and we have actually seen an expansion of their work with us in this regard.
"We have seen a decrease in the number of pharmacies participating in the pharmacy needle exchange programme in Limerick, and a number of factors have feed into that situation, including changing needs of service users.
"However, we have also seen an increase in the provision of targeted needle exchange via outreach and community services to ensure that we have maintained the overall quantum of service and worked with some of the more marginalised drug users," they concluded.