Injection centre not ‘be all and end all’, warns Cork Penny Dinners head
Caitriona Twomey pictured on Gravel Lane across from Penny Dinners, Cork. Picture: Dan Linehan
THE co-ordinator of Cork Penny Dinners has cautioned that a supervised injection centre cannot be seen as a “be-all and end-all solution” to Cork’s heroin problem.
Caitríona Twomey made her remarks after the Lord Mayor of Cork, Fianna Fáil’s Councillor Colm Kelleher had announced that he had applied last week to Health Minister Stephen Donnelly for funding for a supervised injection centre in the city.
Ms Twomey said anything which helped save lives would be welcome, but she said those suffering from addictions cannot be given a supervised injection centre and then forgotten.
“If we can prevent someone dying from a dirty needle, that’s a good thing, however, I would have deep concerns that we don’t have wrap-around services for people who are in addiction,” Ms Twomey said.
“We need more treatment centres, and we need to work with people struggling in addiction and to put a full package in place for them,” she said.
Michael Relihan, a Penny Dinners volunteer who is a recovering addict, said many heroin addicts would be too ill, and have lives too chaotic, to report to an injection centre, and would remain on the street.
“Even if you are in an injection centre, once you’ve had your fix, you’re out that door and you’re looking for your next fix so you don’t get sick,” he said.
“If you’re a heroin addict, it’s not all about getting high anymore, it’s about maintenance, because you will be very, very sick if you don’t get that next fix; and it’s all day every day, and it takes over your life.”
Mr Relihan said he would worry that an injection centre might be seen as giving people in addiction a way to use drugs legally, and wouldn’t give them an incentive to come off heroin, whereas, he felt, treatment centres, and the company of recovering addicts, would.
‘People have died from dirty needles’: Lord Mayor calls for Cork city injection centre https://t.co/8P3kW86rF2
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“When I joined the Penny Dinners recovery group, I could see how well all the lads were doing, and I wanted to follow suit,” Mr Relihan said.
“They say in recovery ‘Life beyond your wildest dreams is being able to put your head on a pillow and go to sleep,” and I didn’t get that when I started, but now I understand that sense of freedom and peace in recovery.”
Brian O’Sullivan, another Penny Dinners volunteer who is a recovering addict, helps run the charity’s recovery meetings.
Mr O’Sullivan said a supervised injection centre might be a help, but he didn’t see it as a long-term solution to Cork’s drug problem.
“It’s not the answer; the answer is treatment centres, and more services are needed,” Mr O’Sullivan said.
“You need to get people away from the problem of using, and there’s not enough help at the minute out there for people who are using,” he said.
“Instead of putting money into an injection centre, that money could be used for a treatment centre for Cork City, one of the biggest cities in Ireland.”
Cllr Kelleher told The Echo he agreed “100%” with the comments of Ms Twomey, Mr Relihan and Mr O’Sullivan, and said he would be pushing for a treatment centre in Cork City.
“I am by no means suggesting a supervised injection centre is a be-all and end-all solution, but I would see it as part of a larger jigsaw puzzle, and we do need to ensure that we do have the wrap-around services to go with it,” Cllr Kelleher said.
Cllr Kelleher said the benefits of such a facility would be to reduce the risks of overdose, to reduce the spread of disease, and to reduce the public health risks associated with discarded needles.
He added that one of the main aims of a supervised injection centre would be that people with addictions could then engage with the relevant services and supports available to them.
“The key thing here is that if you get someone into a supervised injection centre, you may get them onto methadone and into the wraparound services, and please God in a few months’ time, they don’t have to use that injection centre,” Cllr Kelleher said.
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