If the gardai are stopping 10 per cent of the ecstasy destined for streets and clubs they are "doing well", according to a senior member of the Garda National Drugs Unit.
Supt Barry O'Brien, speaking at the unit's headquarters in Dublin Castle yesterday, described the drug as the most prevalent "controlled drug" after cannabis. And according to the latest figures from the gardai (1999), the biggest increase in drug offences has been in ecstasy related crime.
In 1999 it accounted for 14 per cent of the total compared with 7.8 per cent in 1998. In the same period cannabis-related crime increased from 39 per cent of the total in 1998 to 59 per cent in 1999.
The tablets are relatively cheap at £10 to £15 each. And ecstasy use is more complex to monitor and prove than heroin, cocaine or cannabis, said Supt O'Brien, given that it comes in tablet form and can be ingested discreetly, "like putting a sweet in your mouth".
"You don't have to go off somewhere and inject it or smoke it," he points out. This, he continues, renders it difficult for the managers and owners of premises to stop it being taken. For the past four to five years the GNDU has run undercover operations in clubs and pubs, along the lines of the original 1997 Operation Nightcap. Evidence of ecstasy use and supply has been gathered in clubs across Dublin and proprietors have been advised to either "clean up their act" or face closure.
The Garda will advise on supervision but have closed some clubs because owners failed to implement ways of halting drug dealing.