THE PRESIDENT OF the Association of Garda Superintendents has expressed concern about the ‘normalisation’ of drug misuse and said officials need to be careful about the language they use when talking about the issue.

Speaking at his association’s annual conference, Noel Cunningham told Minister of State David Stanton that the use “by groups, including official sources of the term ‘recreational drugs’ is only helping to normalise what is illegal, dangerous and supporting drug abuse in Ireland”.

“We must be careful with our language and supportive of a multi-agency approach to addressing drug abuse within our young and not-so-young communities.”

Organised crime

In his address to the conference, junior minister Stanton spoke about the organised crime activity in the Louth and west Dublin divisions.

“In saying that these criminals are a tiny minority in these areas, I do not discount the concerns of the members of the public whose lives are impacted by their activities,” he said.

He said dedicated policing operations have been put in place to specifically target ongoing criminality in these areas.

Armed support units, whose members are highly trained and equipped with a variety of non-lethal and lethal weapons, are supporting their uniformed colleagues by carrying out high visibility armed checkpoints and patrols throughout the region.

The Minister of State for Equality, Immigration and Integration said this crime will not be allowed to continue, and “those engaged in these illegal activities will be brought to justice”.