The Eastern Health Board plans to open five new addiction centres before the end of the year, but is awaiting planning permission and community acceptance for some of the centres.
Addiction centres dispense methadone and provide educational, medical and counselling services for addicts and their families. The new centres are part of an overall plan by the health board to expand the number of facilities for drug addicts.
In St Mary's Hospital, Phoenix Park, a 20-bed unit is being developed which will provide care for addicts after detoxification. Thirty detoxification places and additional rehabilitation places are to be provided at a centre in North Fredrick Street. A Drugs Task Force is being planned for the Bray area by the Minister for State, Mr Chris Flood.
Approximately 4,000 people from Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow are currently receiving drug treatment from the health board clinics or through the 111 general practitioners and 149 pharmacies providing methadone treatment. There is a waiting list of 442 people for drug treatment services. The overall figure for people addicted to drugs is estimated to be over 13,000.
Ms Maureen Browne, communications director of the Eastern Health Board, says the board hopes to attract people who are not on waiting lists with new facilities and services.
The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, is assessing a report compiled by the Drugs Court Planning Committee. The committee examined court supervised treatment programmes as an alternative to custodial sentences. The committee also assessed the cost of a drugs court and considered the reallocation of resources from other programmes, including those in the criminal justice area.
It is hoped that a pilot drugs court will be set up in the district court in Dublin in the coming months.
Mr Tony Gregory TD said he would welcome the setting up of a drugs court but said it required proper resources. "There urgently needs to be a radical pull on resources before the drugs court is set up," he said.