30 August 2001 Edition

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`Drugs Cocktail' claims three in West Belfast

The families and friends of three young men and the entire West Belfast community are in a state of shock this week after the bodies of the three, who had earlier consumed a lethal mixture of drugs, were discovered on Sunday morning in Andersontown and Ballymurphy.

Eamon McCoubrey (22), Jim O'Connor (20) and Thomas Sterritt (18) all appear to have died from a lethal cocktail of drugs that were almost certainly stolen in a recent spate of robberies on local pharmacies.

The role of the RUC in using drug dealers as informers and allowing them to act with impunity is starkly illustrated by the mixture of drugs believed to have caused the death of these three young men. It is believed that the cocktail included diazapam and morphine mixed with alcohol. The release of known anti-social criminals by the RUC following pharmacy robberies on the Grosverner Road and elsewhere in West Belfast has resulted in the availability of this lethal drug cocktail on the streets of West Belfast.

Local Sinn Féin Assembly member Sue Ramsey has said that the ``people of West Belfast are shocked and horrified at these deaths'' but added that these are not the first drugs-related deaths in the area.

``While acknowledging that there has been much good work done within the community, it is also true that for too long West Belfast has been starved of the necessary resources needed to tackle the issue,'' said Sue Ramsey.

``Sinn Féin believes that these problems are best tackled by community groups, parents and young people, with the statutory agencies providing resources and support. We're talking about the heart being ripped out of a community. The community as a whole has to be involved.''

Falls Community Council Drug Awareness Programme Coordinator Gerry McConville has added his voice to the demand for a community-led response to the problems of drug misuse. ``These deaths have shocked our whole community and serve to remind us of the tragic consequences that can be visited upon anyone through the misuse of drugs,'' said McConville. ``The Falls Community Council Drug Programme has been to the forefront in tackling the drug misuse problem for over ten years in West Belfast. We believe in a community-led, multi-agency approach to the problem. The starting point for this must be the full implementation of the Executive's drug strategy. This entails resources and supports being put in place to ensure that young people are informed of the effects of drugs and their dangers and that young people receive appropriate preventative drug education.''

Sinn Féin's Sue Ramsey added that projects aimed at alerting young people to the dangers of drugs had been cut because of a lack of funding. Ramsey, the Sinn Féin Assembly spokesperson on children's issues, has also contacted the Department of Health to set up a meeting with Jo Daykin, who is responsible for overseeing the anti-drug strategy in the Six Counties.

``While recognising that this is an interdepartmental issue, we will be seeking an urgent meeting with the Minister for Health, as the Health Department is the lead agency,'' said Ramsey.

The tragic deaths of the three young men in West Belfast also highlights the growing culture of drug misuse throughout the Six Counties and indeed throughout Ireland. In the North, figures put the number of young people experimenting with drugs at anywhere between 35% and 75%.

Ramsey, McConville and others have urged two essential elements: better education and better rehabilitation, to be driven by the community.

The RUC and the courts remain perhaps the biggest barrier to progress. The RUC refuse to tackle the anti-social problems in nationalist areas in the hope of undermining nationalist confidence and of blackmailing communities into accepting an unreformed police force. Meanwhile, the courts refuse to accept the need for a new approach.

The role of loyalists and in particular the UDA in flooding the Six Counties with drugs can also not be underestimated. In staunchly loyalist areas such as Ballymena, the heartland of the DUP's Ian Paisley; the Antrim Coast; and the Shankill in West Belfast, there have been fierce battles between loyalists over the control of the drugs trade. Heroin and ecstasy are freely available in these areas.

The obstruction by unionists of the creation of a policing service and the lack of support for community initiatives both play into this dangerous mix.


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