OPINION: Derry’s Detox Appeal: How many more lives must be lost?

In 2020 there was 351 alcohol related deaths in Northern Ireland (NIRSA), this is a 4% increase from the previous year, some reasoning for this increase is linked to the impacts of Covid-19, yet this has been on the increase for decades, way before Covid-19 came about.

Dermot Quigley is the lead campaigner from the ‘Derry Demands a Detox Unit for Chronic Addictions’, he said: “There needs to be an upgrade to the mental wellbeing services, to give confidence to the community that the issue is being taken seriously, as this situation is only going to get worse, and more lives will be lost.”

The nearest detox centre is the Asha centre, in Omagh, an hour drive away or for those who are dependent on public transport, a two-hour journey.

Dermot said: “People shouldn’t have to travel when they are in a venerable position, to somewhere which is strange to them and out of their locality”.

Two anonymous sources were interviewed for this article, both from Derry and who have come through detox centres in Northern Ireland, they know too well of the struggle, and journey of getting to one of these centres.

One woman, aged 32, has been 17 months sober, and had to really ‘graft’ to get to where she is today, willing to turn her life she attended the Asha centre in Omagh:

“I was so scared, I didn’t know anyone, but I had to it for myself and my four kids.

“I was so lucky to get a place at Asha, as at the time I was pregnant, I did not want to lose my child.”

The most recent Census of drug and alcohol treatment programmes conducted by the Department of Health in Northern Ireland, showed that in 2019, 6,743 people were receiving therapy, which was a 13% increase from the previous year.

With the figures on the rise and no detox centre present in Derry, the community are in fear of what’s to come next, now it doesn’t seem to be a Detox centre.

Back in February 2019, Tazmin White (21), said: “My mother would still be alive if there was a detox clinic in the city”.

At the time she made a petition and got the support of 9,566 people who signed her petition on Change.org, and after meeting with the Health Minister, Robert Swann, there still is no idea if or when the city will get what they so desperately need.

Dermot said: “Essentially what happens is you have an idea for a proposal, something else comes along and then your voice get shelved, and we are forced to get on with what we have”.

“At the time when Jim Wells was the Health Minister, I encouraged him to come up with protocol for cross border usage, this has already been established for other health services, such as cancer care, so why can’t it be done for those who are suffering from addiction?”

The second anonymous source, a man aged 39, said: “Coming out of Asha centre in Omagh, I felt like a new man. Don’t get me wrong I still fight my addiction each day, yet I know one thing, and that is if there had been a detox centre, I would have been there sooner than I was.”

“If they could only walk in my shoes, would they deny their right to attend a detox centre in the city they live in?”

The community of Derry have a very strong proposal and justification for a detox centre in their city, people are still suffering from the trauma brought about by the conflict, it’s not just addiction, these are people and lives at stake, so how many more lives are going to be lost?