Gardaí seized over €8 million from organised crime gangs last year - a ten-fold increase in five years - according to new figures released today.
At the launch of a new nationally coordinated garda operation to target middle and street level drug dealers, the head of the drugs and organised crime bureau said that crack cocaine was replacing heroin as the drug of choice in the most deprived parts of the country.
He also said gardaí had set up a new network to deal with violence and intimidation against drug addicts and their families from local drug dealers, and appealed to victims to contact gardaí.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris also said today he was not in favour of legalising drugs, in spite of calls from over 100 community workers for a new approach to tackle the drugs problem.
The Garda Commissioner and senior officers from the drugs and organised crime bureau announced Operation Tara, a new garda initiative to tackle middle and low level on street drug dealers all across the country.
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Over 320 gardaí have now been assigned full time to the divisional drug units across all garda divisions.
Gardaí seized more drugs and cash last year than ever before: €9.5m worth of cocaine, €7.3m of cannabis, €5.3m worth of heroin and over €8m in cash - a ten-fold increase since 2015. Cocaine seizures have increased three-fold.
The head of the Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau said that in some communities crack cocaine is now replacing heroin as the drug of choice in some deprived areas and is as addictive and as damaging to addicts and communities.
Crack is being made locally within these communities following the increase in the availability of cocaine.
Assistant Commissioner John O'Driscoll said this is because the South American drug cartels are targeting Europe, where they can make three times the money selling cocaine than they can in the Americas.
He also said the gardaí had now established a drug-related intimidation reporting programme. Headed by an Inspector in each division, he said gardaí are treating the intimidation of drug users and their families as a priority and any complaint will be dealt with in confidence.
Security advice and support is offered to the victims, he said, and those carrying out the violence and intimidation become targets. Many, he said, have been arrested and convicted for other offences and victims do not have to give evidence.
Gardaí said Operation Tara is about disrupting the business model of organised crime gangs by focusing on the market at local level, instilling confidence in the gardaí within local communities and encouraging them to work with the police service to tackle what in some deprived areas is a drugs epidemic.
The Garda Commissioner also said today he was not in favour of the legalisation of drugs.
Responding to calls from over 100 drugs and community workers for a new approach, Drew Harris said there is a danger of unintended consequences, such as happened with the health issues that occurred with the health shop.
He also said he did not believe that the legalisation of drugs would eliminate organised crime groups but it would lead to major crime and public health issues.
