“Drugs are here to stay” - Fr Peter McVerry

“Drugs are here to stay” -  Fr Peter McVerry


Tom Tracey

“YOU can buy a kilo of cocaine in South America for €700 and sell it on the streets of Dublin for €70,000.  With profit like that there will always be people who will attempt to bring  drugs into this country.”
These were some of the words spoken by well-known Jesuit Priest, Fr Peter McVerry in Ballyheane Community Centre last week when he addressed a large crowd on drug and substance abuse.  Fr McVerry  works among Dublin’s homeless, many of whom are drug and substance abusers.
In his introduction of Fr McVerry  the chairperson of the Tochar Valley Rural Community Network (TVRCN), Brendan Sammon, who hosted the talk, outlined how the Jesuit priest  developed his drug treatments centres in Dublin.
Sister Maureen Lally,  CEO of the Tochar Valley Network, spoke about  the role played by the Tochar Valley company in empowering the eighteen communities from Balla to Croagh Patrick to pool their resources for the development of  sustainable employment initiatives. She went on to say  that  her network group  were aiming to address the issue of substance abuse through consultation, discussion and participation with local groups.
In his address to the large crowd, Fr McVerry said would like to do two things in his talk.
He first looked at the broader issue of drugs and alcohol in society and said that this is a problem not for just for young people.
“This is a problem that we adults have contributed to and we adults have to change our behaviour and our attitude if we are to try and help young people to stay off drugs and to use alcohol sensibly.
“I would advise all parents that they ought to presume that their child,  if he or she is over 15, has tried drugs or alcohol or both.
“The whole problem of drug misuse which is very much  related to the problem of alcohol misuse has clearly spread to every town in Ireland. More and more drugs and more and more variety of drugs are available  to young people and it is a problem that is not going away.”
Fr McVerry went on to suggest that the key to dealing with the problem was ‘communication, communication and communication’
“We simply have to keep open the lines of communication, not judging the  person, not rejecting or condemning, rather affirming their values,  listening to them and trying to  support them in an appropriate way. Like alcohol, drugs are here to stay.
“Young people, who develop  a drug or drink  problem are often times  running away from something. It could be something like bullying at  school, it could be something like expectations from  a parent or favourite aunt or uncle that they will succeed in school. 
“They feel that they can’t live up to those expectations so they feel a failure and they may be using alcohol or drugs to suppress those feelings. Many of the young people I deal with,  who have a serious drug misuse problem, are using drugs to run away from childhood experiences and from the negative feelings  associated  with those childhood experiences, running away from something that you as parents you may not be aware of.”
Brendan Murphy, HSE and National Co-ordinator for GAA sponsored  Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention Support Group, (ASAP), also addressed the meeting and spoke on how, through the network of the GAA clubs throughout the country, he was promoting new thinking on how to prevent the abuse of alcohol and substances among young people.
Other speakers include GrΡinne O’Dea , from the Western Region Drugs  Task Force, who spoke on the role her organisation played in the  promotion of drugs awareness programmes tailored to the needs of parents,  professionals, and young people.
Slovenian native, Ksenja Kregl, who is the project development worker with the Tochar Valley Company, also spoke about how her group were endeavouring  to raise an awareness of  the devastating effects the abuse  of alcohol, drugs and substances  was having on communities throughout Ireland.
Afterwards, there were a number of interesting questions put to the panel of speakers by members of the audience.