More than 600 people sought a drug-related Caritas service last year, director Leonid McKay said this evening.

He was speaking during the graduation ceremony of a number of people who successfully completed a Caritas drug rehabilitation programme.

Mr McKay said that six per cent of those who sought an outreach non-residential service were aged between 14 and 19. But while it was important to understand more the phenomenon of drug use in the early stages of development, one could not forget the increase in the number of persons over 40, who also sought help.

The highest number of people in this category - 19 per cent, was registered last year. The same could be said for the 30-39 category. This phenomenon also merited a lot of attention.

Mr McKay said that although heroin remained the primary and most used drug, an increase in cocaine as the primary drug was being registered.

The market was also creating very accessible synthetic substances which one could easily believe were legally safe.

But the effects these drugs were leaving on a person’s health were still unknown. Moreover, how were services to respond to this growing reality? This in itself put on the red light and Caritas recommended that work in prevention and education in schools was intensified.

Mr McKay said that another major challenge was reintegration into the community. This was a very delicate phase because it was not easy for someone who would have gone through a rehabilitation programme to re-enter society.

The situation was even more difficult for those who would have been prison inmates or still had pending court cases. Not everyone found support within their family and without the necessary support, victims risked returning to their old lives.

He noted that 40 per cent of the people who sought help from Caritas were unemployed. But while a good paying job was important, it was just one factor.

Affordable and safe accommodation should be given priority since someone who would have just completed a programme could not always afford to pay commercial rates.

He also spoke on the need for more drop-in services for people who were completely excluded from society, including those with an acute drug problem.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.