A reflection on community and drugs
This book is a reflection on community and drugs, written mainly for people who study, work and write about drug issues and community work, especially for people who, like me, entered this terrain from social work or youth work perspectives. I grew up in Ballyfermot and in the mid 1970s, I was a play leader / youth worker in the local playground, an experience that inspired me to study at university. After qualifying from Trinity College in 1980, I worked as a social worker for five years in Dublin’s south inner-city, mainly in the public housing flat complex, St Teresa’s Gardens.
The estate was the location of Ireland’s earliest, clustered experience of heroin use in the late seventies, and subsequently, in 1983, it witnessed the first forced eviction of heroin dealers during a series of anti-drugs movements in Dublin. It also witnessed the first State-Community Partnership in response to drug problems, the ill-fated Youth Development Programme (1982–1987), in which I was the second of three project leaders.
Most of my practical work, over four decades since the 1980s, as well as my post-graduate studies, research and teaching have been concerned mainly with problem drug issues and the public housing spaces, and places, in which they are usually located. My most recent employed position was as Coordinator of the Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Drug and Alcohol Task Force, one of twelve such bodies in Dublin’s city and county.
“I was an accidental drug worker, as the issue never featured in my college lectures or practice training, and I never previously expressed any interest in the topic. But the drugs issue found me, however, and has stayed with me ever since through my various working roles."
Despite four decades of relevant experience, I was an accidental drug worker, as the issue never featured in my college lectures or practice training, and I never previously expressed interest in the topic. But the drugs issue found me, however, and has stayed with me ever since through my various working roles.
Drawing from these experiences, Accidental Drug Worker, written as personal narrative, argues the need to end drug prohibition, for a root-and-branch reform of drug policies, including alcohol, and for new forms of regulatory control. It also argues for the re-establishement of institutional supports for community services and community development, with a stronger focus on voice, on helping people to have a meaningful say in owning and dealing with community and drug issues, and in overcoming associated problems.
Accidental Drug Worker will be launched in the Summer, 2023.
Make sure you are on my email list by sending me an email at dbazzie@icloud.com
See also: Walking Past the Plassey, to be published in 2024.
The above book cover is a draft for illustrative purposes