"The out of sight, out of mind" approach to addiction is not working in Cork
That's according to the City's Lord Mayor Cllr Colm Kelleher who is championing the establishment of a supervised injection centre in an effort to tackle the city's rising heroin problem.
He has raised the matter with the Health Minister and lodged a request for funding as he says people are dying on our streets as a direct result of using dirty needles or overdosing and a centre such as this would help to save lives.
The Lord Mayor says supervisid injection centres have hit stumbling blocks in the past due to funding and people's fears that they would feel unsafe around centres such as these may lead to anti social behaviour.
Speaking to RedFM News Lord Mayor Cllr Kelleher says it's time for an adult conversation around the issue of addiction.
"The approach that we have as a society towards substance abuse, in this instance heroin addiction, it's considered taboo and it shouldn't be considered taboo. It's a medical condition, it should be treated as such.
"I've been on the record on numerous occasions that we need to have an adult conversation on our approach to drug misuse in the country.
"Supervised injection centres would be specifically for the poor souls who are addicted to this horrible substance, and it would take them out of harm's way.
"This 'out of sight out of mind' down a back street alley - people could end up dying."
