A HSE expert says community patrols in an estate in Tralee may not be effective in stopping drug use.
This week’s Tralee Municipal District meeting was told that residents of Ogham Rian estate in Tralee are carrying out night-time patrols to prevent anti-social behaviour and drug use by non-residents.
The HSE South West general manager for social inclusion, David Lane, says their focus is more on recovery and rehabilitation, while the HSE also trains local communities to collect drug litter safely.
He says the trends nationally and across Europe indicate heroin use is declining, but cocaine use is rising.
Mr Lane believes the community patrols may just move the drug problem to a different part of town.
David Lane says there are very positive findings to come out of a new study on people with drug addiction entering HSE programmes in Tralee.
He said there will be European interest in this research.
