Hope in a Crack Epidemic, created by Patrick Doran, delves into the stories of women struggling with addiction, and highlights the tactics used by drug dealers to exploit them.
Mr Doran, who grew up in Ballycullen, not far from Tallaght, said he was “quite shocked” when he first heard about the issues with crack cocaine in the area.
“I thought crack cocaine was something only associated with places in America, and I never knew how much of a problem it was here,” he said.
“It is effectively destroying the community down the road from where I grew up,” he said.
Mr Doran was able to get in touch with the people behind the Community Addiction Response Programme (CARP) in Killinarden, Tallaght, and visited the centre to speak to some of the women caught up in addiction.
James Kelly, Programme Manager at CARP, in the documentary Hope in a Crack Epidemic
They said dealers use Snapchat to advertise special offers and deals for crack cocaine, not unlike a two-for-one special in a supermarket.
In other instances, dealers are putting crack through their letterboxes, despite them not asking for the drug.
This tactic is used so the dealer can then show up demanding money, regardless of whether the drugs have been taken or not, instigating an endless cycle of debt the women struggle to break free of.
“I was shocked. I thought when people were sellin...
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