It was yesterday announced that the European Cities Against Drugs (ECAD) Mayors’ Conference is to be held in Malta next year.

Let us kick this editorial off on a realistic note. Drug abuse in Malta takes place at every level in our society. If one were to look at the situation, one can easily surmise that we do have a very real problem in our midst. Experts will point out that there are different types of drug users. There are those who swallow pills such as LSD or ecstasy to “party” on the weekend. There are others who use cocaine on the weekend, every weekend. The ones just mentioned, more often than not, get further hooked on the drug and set off on a downward spiral.

There are also the heroin users, and these are by far the most stigmatised, but one must also say, the most dangerous to communities.

To keep in theme with the opening paragraph of this editorial, let us stick to the use of drugs within a community. Heroin is regarded as one of he most addictive and destructive drugs out there, and it is even further stigmatised because the user more often than not ends up injecting rather than smoking it as the craving for a hit gets worse and worse.

Unfortunately youngsters sometimes mistakenly believe that burning the drug and inhaling the smoke is not as addictive as injecting it, and that they can control it. The truth is far different. Heroin, no matter how it is consumed, is a dangerous and highly addictive narcotic.

Users start off thinking they can control their use of the drug, but heroin is different. The addiction is physical as well as psychological and the body gets ‘sick’ if it does not get its hit. Drug users of all kinds then end up stealing, breaking and entering and even selling their bodies for a hit. Families are torn apart, and the user often has to hit very rock bottom before they will accept to be helped.

Sadly, as we have seen, drug use takes place in our very midst. It takes place on bastion walls, beaches, public gardens and playgrounds. This unfortunately leaves behind syringes which have caused great worry to many people as children and adults alike have been pricked by used syringes.

Some years back, Qormi local council had been chosen as a pilot project to promote the use of disposal boxes so addicts can put syringes in them and dispose of them in special bins. One must ask whatever became of the project. Was there uptake? Did the users get ‘amnesty’ for disposing of syringes in this way? Is the scheme still in place? Has it worked? Will it be extended to other areas? If it has been shut down, why? And why did it not work?

We ask these questions because the facts are alarming. In three days, the police and customs seized about three kilogrammes of drugs. It can only make one wonder, despite the sterling work of police, about the quantity of drugs that do make it onto our streets.

Drug abuse is not an issue that Malta has ignored. But it seems that after the initial shock period a few years ago, we have accepted drugs as being part and parcel of modern society. This newspaper also accepts that there are people that will turn to drugs no matter what. But it is of paramount importance to make sure that others are not put at risk as a result of ‘fear’ of being caught, or simple negligence or vindictiveness on the part of the drug user in not disposing of syringes safely.