A former Garda has urged the Government to quickly ban shops from selling so-called ‘cocaine kits’ in order to prevent them “encouraging” young people to take drugs.
The kits are being legally sold in Dublin and contain a mirror, razor blade, snorting tube, vial and metal spoon - all of which are designed to make the highly addictive drug easier to consume.
On Lunchtime Live, former drugs Garda Christy said he was “astonished and astounded” to hear the kits are available.
“What you’re doing is, you’re encouraging people to think that this is okay,” he said.
“You go in and you buy a pouch and then you have to go on you make a purchase of your cocaine and it’s all seemingly acceptable.
“But it’s not acceptable; we know the damage that drugs do to people and what it does to society as a whole.
“I’m very concerned that these black pouches will be sold.”
In recent years, cocaine use in Ireland has surged and the number of deaths linked to the drug has increased by 1,831% in the past two decades.
With that in mind, Christy said the kits should be banned.
“I’m sure the Government could bring in a statutory instrument that could change that whole concept and make it illegal,” he said.
“Because really, at the end of the day, we have a serious problem with drugs and we’re talking about cocaine here, we’re talking about ketamine - another drug that’s come to the fore in the last number of years, nearly replacing heroin and all of those sorts of substances.
“So, we’re talking about the hard drugs and we have to be very concerned that shops would sell the implements that would make people buy hard drugs like this.”
The kits are even being advertised covertly on social media platforms.
“The reality is that now on social media, there’s stuff being sold online through the black market and it’s being advertised as something totally different,” he said.
“Yet we know what the real purpose of these kits are and I’m really concerned they’re being sold so openly in shops, encouraging young people to buy these types of kits.
“I think that’s totally wrong.”
Main image: A man using cocaine. Picture by: Alamy.com.
