MOST heroin addicts would have bleak futures even if they were not addicted but that does not explain their addiction, a new report suggests.
In some parts of Dublin the rate of unemploment among the general population is Just as high as that among drug abusers the report by Dr Kathleen O Higgins of, the Health Research Board points out.
Drug abusers tend to come from the most deprived areas an most of those treated for addiction left school before they were 15.
The link between drug, abuse and social class is not simple she writes, though she concludes that in Dublin social and economic deprivation appear to play a major part in the problem.
Dr O Higgins's report is a review of the annual reports on treated drug misuse in Greater Dublin from 1990 to 1994.
The number of drug misusers receiving treatment rose by over 50 per cent from 1990 to 1994. In 1994, 2,700 people received treatment, representing 7.1 people per 1,000 of the population.
If estimates of 5,000 heroin addicts in Dublin are correct, the figures suggest that about half of them receive treatment at any one time.
