DRUGS NOW CHEAPER AND MORE ACCESSIBLE THAN ALCOHOL IN CO MONAGHAN, SINN FÉIN COUNCILLOR CLAIMS

Young people in Co Monaghan were turning to the use of illegal drugs because they were now cheaper and more accessible than alcohol, Sinn Féin member of Monaghan Co Council Noel Keelan claimed at Monday’s meeting of the county’s Joint Policing Committee. Councillor Keelan’s Co Council party colleague Colm Carthy also referred to increasing numbers of local young people using illegal drugs in preference to alcohol. Statistics before the meeting indicated that 14 cases of possession of drugs for sale or supply in Co Monaghan had come to the Gardaí’s attention so far in 2022, compared to 22 instances during the same period in 2021. 45 drug driving offences had been recorded in the same period this year, an increase on the equivalent 2021 period figure of 28.

Community JPC representative Alan Johnston remarked that cases of possession of drugs for sale of supply appeared to be going down while drug driving offences were going up, which appeared “a bit counterintuitive”. Either there were more checkpoints to detect drug driving or less resources to combat…