Dublin: Gardai Make Appeals Over Two Missing Persons

Gardaí have issued separate appeals for assistance in tracing two people missing from their homes.

 

Catriona Horan – Last seen outside Trinity College

 

 

Shay Prendergast – Missing from his home in Arklow

Gardaí have issued an appeal to trace a 22-year-old woman who has been missing since last Wednesday.

Catriona Horan of Tawnlea, Drumkeeran, Co Leitrim was last seen outside Trinity College in Dublin on 9 February.

She is believed to have been wearing a dark grey single breasted winter style jacket from Zara (tweed effect), black tights/leggings and black ‘Shuh’ boots.

Catriona is 5ft 5″ tall of slim build with has dark brown hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the gardai at Manorhamilton on 071 9820620.

In a separate appeal, gardaí are seeking help in tracing trace a 59-year-old man who has been from his home in Arklow, Co Wicklow since yesterday evening.

Shay Prendergast was last seen at his home in Knockmore, Wexford Road at 7pm.

He is believed to be wearing green trousers and a heavy green jacket. He is 5ft 10″ tall of medium build with blue eyes and is balding with grey hair to the sides. Shay also wears glasses.

Anyone with any information as to Shay’s whereabouts is asked to contact gardaí at Arklow on 0402 26320.

Dublin: Breaking the Silence: 13: Understanding Alienation & Antisocial Personality Disorder

BREAKING the SILENCE: 13: UNDERSTANDING ALIENATION & ANTI-SOCIAL PERSONALITY DISORDER:

The following article should be studied with great care, for it is here that you will find you’re -drug pushers – hitmen and many other cold and callous criminals.

The Article is important in many respects, but the most important aspect of it is, that the condition known as ‘Anti-Social Personality Disorder’ has been hidden deep within the textbooks of psychiatry and criminal law, and not intended for to be read or understood by the layperson.

But many years of research has uncovered one of the best kept secretes of psychiatry and the criminal justice systems of many developed/industrialised countries including Ireland.

 

 

Alienation and anti-social personality disorder:

With-drawl or isolation from other people, rejection of the values of ones family or society, or estrangement from ones own feelings.

The personality factors of alienation and rebelliousness have also been associated with higher levels of alcohol use.

These personality factors are reflected in adolescents being psychologically removed from the normative attitudes and values of society, and not embracing societal values, such as educational achievement or law abidance.

Poor problem-solving cooping skills have also been associated with increased alcohol use by adolescents. Skill deficits in the coping domain may contribute to the adoption of escapist drinking coping motives, or to strategies (e, g; interpersonal aggression = FIGHTING) that may foster negative outcomes.

Teenage alienation is viewed as pathological, if it accompanies serious psychological disorders, such as phobias and obsessions.

 

Schizophrenia often involves alienation from both ones-self and others, while social alienation characterizes those with Antisocial

Often persons with antisocial-personality-disorder did not experience normal attachment to a parent or caregiver in early childhood and the child’s normal ability to relate to and identify with others was never developed. Pathological alienation is most often seen in late adolescence, the features are truancy, suspension from school, cruelty to animals, leading to the development of aggressive behaviour, lack of guilt, failure to plan ahead and work related problems.

Deliberate self-harm may be a feature in some patients, and many may engage in drugs and alcohol abuse and may form a substance/alcohol dependence.

Because of their callousness, such people do not form loving relationships and have many short-term liaisons.

Antisocial Personality Disorder is a behaviour developed by a small number of children with conduct disorders, whose behaviour does not improve as time passes (as they mature).

The condition is also known as sociopathy or psychopathy (or psychopathic) personality disorder.

The psychopathic delinquent is relatively rare, but from society’s point of view, he is perhaps the most dangerous of young criminals.

The psychopath’s distinguishing traits are; (1. His inability to form a lasting emotional relationship with other human-beings, and (2. His almost total lack of guilt, remorse or inhibition).

The psychopath does not suffer from internal conflict or anxiety, and does not find emotional satisfaction in gang membership. The psychopath delinquent commits a wide gamut of crimes and has a remarkably high rate of recidivism. (Falling back into bad behaviour).

Almost all investigations of psychopath’s environments indicate, that they have been raised in homes characterized by EXTREME PARENTAL BRUTALITY, NEGLECT, DISCORD and INTENSELY SEVERE DISCIPLINE. 

Many have come from foster homes, or orphanages. They have seldom if ever, experienced a warm, loving relationship with other human beings, and they seem to lack the capacity for affection.

Quite often, the psychopath suffers from neurological disorders, perhaps of a type that decreases his ability to inhibit impulses.

About 3% of males and 1% of females develop antisocial personality disorder-which is essentially the adult version of childhood conduct disorder.

(Explained simply by age; under 18 years of age the person is a child; over 18 years of age an adult).

APD is only diagnosed in people over the age of 18 years, the symptoms are similar to those of ’conduct disorder’ which has its onset before the age of 15 years.

People with APD demonstrate a pattern of ‘antisocial behaviour since age 15 years.

The adult (over the age of 18 years) with APD displays at least three of the following behaviours.

Fails to conform to social norms, as indicated by frequently performing illegal acts, and pursuing illegal occupations.

Is deceitful and manipulative of others, often to obtain money, sex or drugs.

Is impulsive, holding a succession of jobs or residences, is irritable or aggressive, engaging in physical fights.

Exhibits reckless disregard for the safety of self or others, misusing motor vehicles or playing with fire.

Is consistently irresponsible, failing to find or sustain work, or to pay bills and debts.

Demonstrates lack or remorse for the harm his/her behaviour causes to others.

An Individual diagnosed with APD will demonstrate few of his/her feelings beyond ’contempt for others’. Often in the early stages, cruelty to animals becomes one of the factors of conduct disorder and later APD.

This lack of affect is strongly combined with an inflated sense of self-worth and often a superficial charm, which tends to mask the inner apathy.

Authorities have linked APD with abuse, either physical or sexual during childhood, neurological disorders-which often remain undiagnosed and low IQ.

Those with a parent with APD or substance abuse problem are more likely to develop the disorder.

The antisocially disordered person may-be poverty-stricken, homeless, a substance abuser, or have an extensive criminal record.

APD is associated with low-socio-economic status and urban settings. APD is highly unresponsive to any form of treatment.

Although there are medications available that could quell some of the symptoms of the disorder, non-compliance or abuse of the drugs prevents widespread use.

The antisocially disordered person, who has usually had very few relationships in his/her life, is unable to trust, fantasize, feel or learn.

Mental illness has a significant although complex relationship with social class.

Dublin: Breaking the Silence: 12: Understanding Children’s Mental Distress: ADD & Conduct Disorder

BREAKING the SILENCE: 12: UNDERSTANDING CHILDREN’S MENTAL DISTRESS: ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER and CONDUCT DISORDER:

Children’s mental health disorders:

There are two potentially serious psychiatric disorders which quite frequently occur alongside a condition known as Attention Deficit Disorder or (ADD). They are; –

Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) and Conduct Disorder (CD). These disorders are not caused by ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) they coexist, much as dyslexia tics or Tourette’s syndrome can coexist with ADD.

The oppositional defiant disordered child is stubborn, defiant, provocative and oppositional (always takes the opposite view).

The conduct disordered child’s behaviour is socially inappropriate, aggressive and often downright delinquent

These conditions, especially the aggressive form of conduct disorder occur predominantly in boys.

Though not caused by ADD some people believe their presentation is less severe, if we treat our ADD children properly from an early age.

Oppositional Defiant Disorder is more common than conduct disorder. It presents at an earlier age and is generally less-severe.

Conduct Disorder may be relatively mild, but when major, long-standing and unchanged by all treatment it can be serious and the situation unsalvageable. When you hear of ADD children being expelled from school, in trouble with the police, and involved in antisocial acts, the diagnosis is not ADD it is an extreme form of conduct disorder.

ADD is usually going strong before the oppositional behaviours kick in around the start of school (at about five years of age).

Parents first complain of blow-ups, arguing and open defiance which are worse ‘considerably worse’ than would be expected with ADD alone.

As they get older, these children may deliberately upset others, be spiteful, vindictive, angry, resentful, touchy and obscene in their language.

The diagnosis of ODD is made using fixed criteria, (I, e; a pattern of negativistic, hostile and defiant behaviour lasting at least six months, during which four (or more) of the following are present:

Often looses temper; often argues with adults;

Often actively defies or refuses to comply with adult’s rules or requests;

Often deliberately annoys people;

Often blames others for his/her mistakes or misbehaviour;

Is often touchy or easily annoyed by others;

Is often angry and resentful;

Is often spiteful or vindictive:

Where only a few of these behaviours are required to diagnose a degree of the disorder, obviously, the greater the intensity and number of behaviours, the more severe the condition. ODD may occur alone, though frequently it extends to merge with conduct disorder.

Living with an oppositional, attention deficit disordered child is not easy, but generally the situation can be greatly helped by the intervention of a child psychiatrist or psychologist.

(Author’s note; if such a service was available.)

Conduct disorder:

may present along a number of lines, some children are openly aggressive in their behaviour.

For example, fighting and menacing, while others behaviour intrudes on other peoples rights, such as, lying, vandalism, stealing.

This is further complicated by division into two groups; (one who can socialise and another group who are so socially disabled, they are incapable of normal mixing, preferring life alone or ’hunting in a pack’).

Conduct Disorder appears to have a significant hereditary link, particularly in its aggressive, antisocial form.

A diagnosis of conduct disorder is made with the presence of as few as three behaviours from a diagnostic list as follows;

A repetitive and persistent pattern of behaviour in which the basic rights of others or major age-appropriate societal norms or rules are violated, as manifested by the presence of three (or more) of the following criteria in the past twelve months, with at least one criterion present

in the last six months:

Aggression to people and animals;

Often bullies threatens or intimidates others; often initiates physical fights;

Has used a weapon that can cause serious physical harm to others;

Has been physically cruel to people (or animals).

Has stolen while confronting a victim (e, g; mugging), purse snatching, extortion, armed robbery;

Has forced someone into sexual activity;

Destruction of property;

Has deliberately engaged in fire setting with the intention of causing serious damage;

Has deliberately destroyed other’s property (other than by setting fire);

Deceitfulness or theft;

Has broken into someone else’s house, building or car;

Often lies to obtain, goods or favours or to avoid obligations (I, e; cons others);

Has stolen items of non–trivial value without confronting a victim (e, g; shoplifting, but without breaking and entering; forgery).

Serious violations of rules; Often stays out at night despite parental prohibitions, (beginning before age 13 years).

Has run away from home at least twice, while living in parental (or parental foster home) or once without returning for a lengthy period;

Often truant from school, (beginning before age of 13 years);

The disturbance in behaviour causes clinically significant impairment in social, academic or occupational functioning.

If the individual is age 18 years or over, criteria are met for (Antisocial Personality Disorder).

As with ODD the extent of the problem depends on the number of behaviours present, and their severity.

The condition is worsened if there are major social disabilities.

Many people believe that conduct disorder is just a more severe form of ODD and certainly the two frequently occur together, children may have a pure form of conduct disorder (which usually presents in the adolescent years), it affects mostly boys, though antisocial, but generally non-aggressive forms may affect girls.

Management of oppositional defiant disorder ODD and conduct disorder CD generally requires specialist psychiatric help. Those with a major degree of conduct disorder, which does not respond to treatment, are of great concern.

Where aggression and inability to socialise are predominant problems, there is an unfortunate downside to conduct disorder as these behaviours occur mostly in males and both attention deficit disorder and conduct disorder carry a significant hereditary risk of bringing their problems to the next generation.

These unthinking, impulsive adults may not be able to form stable relationships, but this does not prevent them from having children.

Follow-up studies have shown that many children with ADD do extremely poorly in life.

It is now realised that children with (pure ADD) will generally progress well, it is those with (ADD with a major degree of ODD and conduct disorders who are the ones with the less favourable future).

When oppositional and conduct problems are mild, these children usually respond well to treatment, unfortunately, there are some children with conduct disorder, whose behaviours are so entrenched, extreme and antisocial, that professionals are powerless to change their course.

It is devastating for parents to watch while this happens, for some, home life reaches such a low ebb that techniques such as the ‘TOUGHLOVE’ approach are required, to break clear and protect the rest of the family.

When children with pure Attention Deficit Disorder are properly managed, the outlook must be viewed with optimism. When we hear of ADD children who have gone off the rails, it is rarely ADD that is the problem, it is the associated difficulties, particularly of conduct disorder, that when severe and resistant to treatment, represents a most tragic side to the condition known as Attention Deficit Disorder.

 www.aware.ie & www.teenline.ie & www.spunout.ie & www.letsomeoneknow.ie & www.3ts.ie

Dublin: Breaking the Silence: 11: Understanding Children’s Mental Distress: Bipolar Disorder

BREAKING THE SILENCE: 11: CHILDREN’S MENTAL DISTRESS: BIPOLAR DISORDER: ABOUT TWO-THIRDS OF ALL PERSONS WITH BIPOLAR DISORDER HAVE SUBSTANCE-ABUSE AND DEPENDENCY PROBLEMS:

*Bipolar disorder:

A symptom of bipolar disorder, especially common amongst teenagers is extreme mood-labiality (rapid changes in mood).Adolescents with bipolar disorder develop normally until the illness first manifests itself; their lives are then severely disrupted by the illness.

www.aware.ie & www.teenline.ie & www.3ts.ie & www.spunout.ie & www.letsomeoneknow.ie

In fact, Bipolar disorder is especially disruptive to adolescents, more so than to other groups.

Major milestones, such as dating, may be delayed for years until the disease is brought under control. School-work also suffers because cognitive functioning is affected and concentration impaired.

Teenagers with manic-depression are likely to abuse drugs or alcohol in an attempt to alleviate the anxiety caused by the condition. Roughly two-thirds of all persons with bipolar disorder have substance-abuse and dependency problems.

 

Unless it is treated, the illness gets worse with each episode and harder to control. In addition, 15% of those who fail to receive adequate treatment for bipolar disorder commit suicide.

 

(* Authors note: See Suicide-risk factors. ‘Bipolar Affective Disorder’.)

Common misdiagnoses,

of bipolar disorder- include schizophrenia, drug and alcohol dependence, uni-polar disorder and personality disorders. It is common to suffer from bipolar disorder for as long as seven to ten years without having the condition diagnosed and treated. In the context of law, suicide is important in relation to its predictability, its prevention and the great potential for claims of negligence to be taken against a doctor, in the event of a completed suicide.

Ballymun, Dublin: HSE Is “Beyond Reform” Says Children’s Rights Campaigner Debbie Lamb

“We have to keep moving the bottom line up, until the needs of children are adequately met. The real pain of being marginalised is the pain of feeling that you are of no value, that nobody wants you and nobody cares, and that is far deeper and far more painful than being hungry, cold or not having a bed for the night“.

Fr Peter McVerry. S. J.

According to Debbie Lamb (breaking the silence campaigner). “The HSE is beyond reform and the development of a total new care system for children and vulnerable young adults is urgently required if more and more ’AT RISK’ children are to survive the crisis situations which have arisen in their own homes, which is currently driving them from the devil (at home) into the deep blue sea, when they seek a care placement with the HSE“.

Outlining the tragic situation that led to the deaths of their relatives – Lynda Lamb and Danny Talbot, during a first public meeting held in DAYS Hotel in Dublin’s Ballymun, aimed at building an effective campaign around their (Breaking the Silence) campaign for homeless, distressed and abandoned children and young adults.

Debbie and Donna Lamb outlined to the meeting the shocking details of the situation that confronts homeless children on the Board-Walk and the streets of Dublin each day.

Qualified research data, sourced and used in the production of this article and previously published by (this author) fully supports the findings and details of the data collected by campaigners Debbie, Donna and Norma Roach with regard to the terrible plight of vulnerable children and young adults that are currently homeless and distressed on the streets of our capital city.

Norma Roach a former HSE childcare social worker outlined to a (BREAKING the SILENCE CAMPAIGN) meeting how as a child care social worker with the HSE that she was prevented by her superiors from writing out factual reports regarding the condition and needs and wants of children on her caseload, who were in (current) crisis situations and required an emergency response from the HSE childcare service to prevent an even further rapid deterioration in their situations, which included homelessness, exposure to drug abuse and addiction to alcohol in addition to other street drugs.

Other dangers which faced the homeless and vulnerable children, included prostitution and becoming involved in various types of street crime, often under the direction of older and more streetwise youths who in their own turns had emerged from similar situations in the recent past and were now directing eleven and twelve year olds, (newly arrived into a streetscape existence) into lived of alcohol and drug abuse, prostitution and other forms of street crime as a means of survival on the streets of Dublin City.

Children who were only a short time before living within the safety of their homes and with their families, because of some emergency situation that has arisen at home, are now effectively thrown onto the streets as fodder for every criminal and deviant that trawls the streets of any city in search of the most vulnerable and youngest of the homeless children who in turn have been led to believe that the State has a childcare system in place which will protect them from harm and cater for their needs and wants.

Like in the tragic cases of Danny Talbot and Lynda Lamb, similarly, now other young children of twelve years of age and under are being faced with a life of exploitation, abuse, addiction, prostitution and other street crime on Dublin’s City streets, because the State and its Health Care provider the HSE – is dysfunctional and under resourced and is unable to provide even the most basic of childcare to children who are in crisis.

 

 

Child Homeless Service Increases Risks To Children:

 

By J. P. Anderson: First Published On 26/03/2007.

Recent research, by Mayock and Vekic (2006)1 presents data from the first phase of a two-phase longitudinal cohort study of young homeless people living in the Dublin metropolitan area.

The research focused on young people living in Dublin for at least six months prior to the commencement of the study.

The study used ’life history’ interviews with 40 young people recruited through homeless services and street settings.

In qualitative research when this method is used, interviewees are invited to tell their ’life stories’, then the researcher invites them to explore in depth significant life events that are broadly related to the aims of the research.

The aim of this technique is to uncover as far as possible the interviewees’ interpretations of significant life events and to allow them to elaborate on issues that may not have figured in the initial research aims but nonetheless are viewed as relevant to the research.

The interviews were conducted between September 2004 and February 2005.

Fifty per cent of the cohort was aged between 15 and 17 years.

Nineteen of the cohort reported becoming homeless initially at the age of 14 or younger, while 12 initially became homeless at age 15.

This would suggest that the early to mid-teen years is a period of great risk for becoming homeless.

The research identified three broad pathways into homelessness for the study cohort. The authors caution against interpreting these pathways as ‘causes of homelessness’, suggesting that they be viewed rather as key circumstances and experiences that appeared to push the young people towards homelessness.

Household instability and family conflict of varying degrees figured largely in the experience of most of these young people from an early age.

For example, parental discord and/or marital breakdown, the presence of a step-parent and parental alcohol and drug abuse figured prominently in the events leading to that initial experience of homelessness.

Forty per cent of the cohort reported a history of state care of varied duration, moving between foster homes, residential care placements or residential placement homes.

Their accounts of these experiences suggest that they did not integrate and, according to the authors, this instability produced exceptional vulnerability and deep resentment about their separation from parents and/or siblings.

Negative peer association and problem behaviour were reported by some of the young people as contributing to poor relations with family and caregivers.

However, as the authors suggest, [this} behaviour cannot be divorced from a range other home based problems such as family illness, bereavement, conflict between parents or alcohol abuse by a parent.

At the time of interview, only eight of the cohort did not use illicit drugs, with the average age of first drug use being 11.5 years for the males and 13 years for females. Fifty per cent of the cohort reported having used heroin, with almost all reporting their heroin use as problematic to the point of dependency.

The majority of those who used heroin had first experimented with it after they became homeless.

The vast majority of the young people in this research had used or were using the Out Of Hours Service (OHS) in the city centre.

This crisis service was set up to respond to the accommodation and care needs of homeless youth aged 18 years or under.

Young people can only access the service by going to a Garda station after 8pm.

It is then the duty of the Gardai to contact the OHS social work team, who will determine where to place the young person in the emergency service if returning to the (their own) home is not an option.

This means that these young people continue to move between city-centre hostels and become particularly vulnerable to exposure to alcohol and drug use, criminal activity and intimidation and bullying.

According to the authors, ‘this initial period of contact with the city centre homeless “scene” was a common point of initiation into a whole range of risky behaviours and, within a relatively short period of time, a large number had become immersed in the ‘street-based social networks’ (street sub-culture).

For example, when exposed to the experience of homelessness over an extended period, young people became heavily involved in using drugs and committing crime on a daily basis to finance their drug use.

According to the authors, this led to a process of ‘acculturation’ into the street scene where they ‘learned the street competencies they need to survive by becoming embedded in social networks of homeless youths.

However, some of the cohort who manage to avoid the transient nature of hostel life and remained in the one place for an extended period of time were able to escape the street homeless scene, avoid drug use and attend school.

This study provides a useful sociological insight into the lived experiences of young homeless people. The findings of this first phase, although in strict interpretative terms (are) limited to his cohort, requires attention from various state agencies charged with preventing homelessness.

Pillinger recommends this approach in the strategy on preventing homelessness.

Supported measures need to be put in place at local level, particularly in the Dublin suburbs, to prevent young homeless people congregating in the city centre and becoming involved in drug use and criminal behaviour.

The advantages of a decentralised approach to homelessness in Dublin is that these young people are accommodated closer to their own homes, can continue contact with their families and can remain in school.

(Source: Martin Keane: Drug-net -Ireland. Issue 21. Spring 2007: Newsletter of the Alcohol and Drug Research Unit. Health Research Board).

Related Article:

 

 

Looking At the Structures in Our Society with Fr Peter McVerry S. J. (2001):

First published on: 01/02/2007:

“In 1974, the Jesuits opened a small community in Dublin’s Summerhill district, (then a very badly run down slum area within Dublin’s north-inner-city), and I volunteered to join that community.

Living in Summerhill challenged everything that I ever understood or believed in. It challenged my values, my attitudes to society, the theology that I had been learning; it challenged my notion of God.

It totally changed me because I saw these wonderful kids, some of them very talented, very gifted, very intelligent, and heading straight towards jail.

What they needed to develop their talents didn’t exist, and as soon as they got into trouble, society came down on them like a ton of bricks. I began to question, what’s going on in our society? To look at the structures in our society much more critically,

And so, from being a person who would have felt that we had a great education system, a great housing system, a good community to live in.

I began to see that there was something fundamentally wrong with the structures that we have created and the society that we live in; –

It is fundamentally unfair and unjust.

My image of the Kingdom of God is that, we will all be equally loved, equally cared for, no one will be treated as second class, no one will be marginalised, unwanted or uncared for.

There will be that equality of relationships in the Kingdom of God – equally loved and cared for. Certainly, it is the churches theology that here on earth we are building that Kingdom of God, and we are striving to create a society where those inequalities don’t exist. I think that is our reason for being on this earth.

We are here to try and take some of the pain off peoples shoulders, to try giving people a better, happier and more fulfilled life. I would hope that the rest of my life would be spent in some way trying to take the pain away from people and to work towards a more just society.

In our daily lives we come across people who are marginalised and who are excluded – travellers, homeless, poor people, and for me the important thing is giving those people back their human dignity.

The real pain of being marginalised is the pain of feeling that you are of no value, that nobody wants you and nobody cares, and that is far deeper and far more painful than being hungry, cold or not having a bed for the night.

So, I think at one level, one thing that we can do is when we meet people who we know are excluded, that we treat them with dignity. –

We stop and have a word with somebody who is homeless and is begging on the streets, or with a traveller, and treat them as people and by doing so giving them back their dignity as persons.

On a second level, we really need to look at what is happening in our society, and we need to put demands on political parties, on governments to produce policies-that are socially inclusive and that will give people who are currently on the margins a better quality of life in our society. …

The Government Ministers award themselves a €250 a week increase, and give €10 a week to the unemployed. …

To me while there are still homeless people on the streets, while there are still drug users who must wait on long waiting lists before getting on a drug treatment programme, while you still have ‘travellers’ living on the side of the road, you have an unfair and unjust society, and I just feel that money to spare ought to be spent on creating a more balanced and just society.

If I had €60m to address the problem, you would not see a homeless child this side of the year 2020.

Homelessness has been a social problem that has been neglected for decades.

It affects both adults and children, and we are now trying to catch up.

When I started in the 1970s you could count the number of homeless children on the fingers of one hand, it was not a social problem.

However, the numbers have escalated ever since, and the services to meet that need have not in any way kept pace with the demand.

So now, we are in a situation – where in the last few years there has been serious concern, particularly about homeless children, but we are trying to catch up and make up for the-decades of neglect, in ‘now’ attempting to deal with the problem.

Child homelessness arises from a breakdown in relationships with one or both parents. There could be a lot of reasons for that.

Some very obvious reasons – alcoholic parents, violent fathers, sexual abuse in homes or a breakdown in communications.

Now, in the past, when family relationships broke down, children tended to go and live with their granny or married sister, who lived on the next street, or perhaps the child lived with a neighbour, whom they had known all of their lives.

Those were the days when extended families lived close by, when communities were communities and everyone knew one-another.

Today, if a young person leaves home, their extended family might live on the other side of Dublin and the young person might only see them around Christmas time, (meaning that, the ‘nuclear family’ would be strangers).

The whole community spirit has broken down, so neighbours now quite frequently don’t want to know each other, and that option-of living with a neighbour may no longer exist. So, I think that children, today, are forced to rely on the state services, much more than they were in the past.

The stresses of life today are much greater than in the past, which creates a whole range of social problems, including homelessness.

With regards to homeless children, we are aware that 400 to500 children become homeless each year.

Now, many of them get a service and some get a very good service, they will be placed in foster homes, in hostels or enabled to go back home.

But there is a ’hard core’. I estimate that between 50 and 100 children-every night are sleeping rough. – No research has been done.

In terms of breakdown between the sexes, – for homeless children it is 50/50, and that is a huge change. …We need to decide that a child living on the streets is totally unacceptable in this modern day and age.

The bottom line for our policy makers is that a range of services should be provided so that, no child should have to live on the streets.

Basically, that means a night shelter where they are guaranteed a bed, a shower, a meal, and medical attention.

Now, that is not the answer to the child’s problems regarding homelessness, but it is the bottom line. –

We have to keep moving the bottom line up, until the needs of children are adequately met.

I am not aware of any government plan to deal with homeless children, and that is where the problem arises.

It is not so much a lack of resources, as the Minister has repeatedly stated that money is not the problem. The problem lies in the structures.

The Simon Community estimate that there are 10,000 homeless adults in Ireland. In Dublin’s city centre, a recent survey found that 220 homeless people were sleeping rough, which was a greater number than in five major cities in the UK put together.

It seems to me, there are three problems. –

Social workers on the ground, who are in the front line in dealing with the homeless are so overworked that they have to prioritise.

Secondly, within the health boards / HSE there are too many middle-managers and whole layers of decision-making before anything happens. There is adequate anecdotal evidence to suggest that nobody is listening to anybody else underneath them.

Certainly, social workers feel that they are not either being heard or listened to. So the decisions are being made by people sitting behind desks, who have very little knowledge or experience of what the situation is like on the ground, and who are not listening to the people on the ground.

Thirdly, at the top level you have three Government Ministers-Education, Health and Justice – all of whom have some responsibility for children, so that, a child in the space of a single morning could become the responsibility of each minister in turn. There should be one Minister for Children, responsible for all aspects of a child’s life, and the buck stops there.

I think that the system is inadequate and incapable of dealing with the problem of homeless children. You can throw all the money in the world at the problem, but unless the structural problems are dealt with, the problem will not be resolved.

An independent board should be established to tackle young homelessness and the responsibility removed from the health boards, as the current structures are inadequate.

Even a drug-pusher has a right to have somewhere to live, and they should not be excluded.

I think the problem arises when you have a shortage of services and facilities, so that every homeless person gets channelled into the same hostel.

For example, there is only one emergency hostel for homeless adults in Dublin, which is Cedar House, run by the Salvation Army, and the service is based on a ‘first come-first served’ basis. So, yes, a situation arises where a vulnerable 18 year-old could be sleeping next to a drug addict or somebody with a long and/or violent criminal history, and that is a totally undesirable situation.

The solution to that is to have adequate services for homeless people, so that, you can assess the needs of each individual homeless person, and channel them to the most appropriate accommodation.

I do think that you need a place for homeless-drug-users and a separate place for people who are not drug users.

A child grows up in a family and within a community. If children cannot live in their own family, I think it is preferable that they should grow up, if possible in someone else’s family, and retain that sense of family.

Many children do that successfully in foster homes. I think that they should also be kept in the community in which they have grown up-that’s where their friends are, their schools are, the youth club which they attend and their support structure is.

At the moment many children who leave home, also have to leave their community, – this is very unfair and unhelpful to the child. It is vitally important that we provide services in the areas where they come from.

(*Authors note: Two-thirds of those employed by service providers to homeless people, work part-time).

(Source: Peter McVerry interview*

Edited extracts; reproduced by courtesy of Pioneer magazine).

Kilkenny: Warning To Abusers After Heroin Sourced From ‘Tallaght Batch’ Kills At Least Four

DRUG workers have issued warnings to heroin users after four addicts died from overdoses in Kilkenny and Carlow in the last week.

Experts said high purity heroin is now back on the streets following the end of one of the longest heroin droughts to hit the country.

Three heroin users are reported to have died from overdoses in Kilkenny in the past six days, with a further death in Carlow.

“We are receiving reports that there are of batches of heroin that are better quality and can elevate the risk of overdose. Unfortunately, recently there have been three fatal overdoses in the Kilkenny region,” said Tim Bingham of the Irish Needle Exchange Forum (INEF).

Two Kilkenny men died in the city and another in Dublin after taking heroin, thought to be from a batch sourced from Tallaght.

The first of the victims was buried yesterday morning. Another known addict died in Dublin on Wednesday from an overdose and a third young man was found dead in his bed on Thursday afternoon by his mother close to Kilkenny city centre.

It is thought that another addict in Kilkenny city committed suicide in the last month — unable to get his hands on heroin.

Pat Connaughton, a drugs outreach worker with the South East Drugs Task Force and employed by St Vincent de Paul, said there had been an overdose death in Carlow in the past week and that the problem was now an epidemic.

He said the drug had been off the streets for the last number of months because of a supply problem but that a new batch is so pure it is killing users.

“They are not used to this strength and it is simply too much for their system,” said Mr Connaughton.

He said that if the addicts are going to use heroin, they should try to gauge its strength first.

Mr Bingham said heroin users’ tolerance levels have dropped since they last used. “Users have to be careful as the quality of heroin can be better than they have previously used and they may unknowingly purchase heroin that is much more pure than what he is used to and take their normal dose anyway.

“Users also have to be aware that the additives that are mixed to bulk up the heroin are unknown.”

He said users should divide their dose in half and do a “tester shot” and allow the drug to take effect before taking any more.

Blarney, Co Cork: Gardai Launch Huge Search Following ‘Ambush’ Murder Of Father Of Three

SNIFFER-DOGS, air support units and Garda units carried out extensive searches just outside Cork city following the ambush-style murder of a 42-year-old father of three near Blarney on Thursday afternoon.

Patrick (Pakie) Hogan, from the Rathpeacon area but who lived in Carrigaline, was shot dead at about 3.50pm on the Glen Road in the townland of Ballymartin near Grenagh.

Three men were still in detention in Cork city last night in relation to the killing.

Gardaí are believed to be investigating if it is linked to feuding between criminal factions from Cork.

Mr Hogan, who runs a scrap metal and used car business, was travelling in a red Volkswagen Transporter van with a companion towards their work place when another vehicle with two men in it — a silver Volkswagen Golf — blocked their way. Mr Hogan and his companion were attempting to flee on foot when Mr Hogan was shot a number of times by a masked gunman while crossing the ditch into a field.

The Volkswagen van was then driven to the new cemetery at Garrycloyne and abandoned there, about 3.5km from the shooting.

Intensive searches were ongoing at the cemetery yesterday, first with explosives sniffer dogs and later with Garda search teams in a bid to find the murder weapon.

Searches were also being carried out at the field where the man’s body was found and the nearby roadway and both vehicles underwent forensic examinations.

Gardaí are appealing for witnesses in the Glen road area and for anyone who might have been in and around the vicinity of the graveyard between 3.30pm and 4.15pm on Thursday — prior and subsequent to the incident — to come forward.

Leading the investigation, Superintendent Con Cadogan said a number of people had already contacted gardaí, but he stressed there are other people out there with information who need to come forward.

“We aware that there are people out there who may know the underlying reasons about what happened.

“I am appealing for those people to make contact with us at Gurranabraher Garda Station on 021-4946200. Their information will be treated with the strictest of confidence. People should have no fear in contacting us.”

Mr Hogan’s body was removed from the scene just before lunch yesterday from the field in Ballymartin, about six miles from Cork city, and was taken to Cork University Hospital where the deputy state pathologist Dr Michael Curtis carried out a postmortem.

The three men in detention were arrested at about 5.30pm on Thursday and can be held up to seven days, pending the outcome of the investigation.

They are being held under the provisions of Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act 2007.

Timeline of murder

 

Thursday 3.40-3.50pm:

Patrick Hogan and his travelling companion are ambushed on the Glen Road, Ballymartin, near Grenagh, six miles outside Cork city. The men attempt to run, jumping into a nearby field but Mr Hogan is shot dead.

His companion escapes on foot and returns to the scene later to find the body.

Thursday 4.00-4.15pm: One of two men who carried out the attack drives a Volkswagen Golf to Garrycloyne cemetery and abandons it. The other drives Mr Hogan’s red Volkswagen transporter van which later found at Gurth, about four miles from the crime scene.

Thursday 5.30pm: Three men are arrested in connection with the murder and are being held, two at Gurranabraher Garda Station and one at Mayfield.

Friday 11.30am: The body of Mr Hogan is removed from the field at Ballymartin and brought to Cork University Hospital.

Friday 11.30am: Sniffer dogs search Garrycloyne cemetery for the murder weapon, followed by Garda search units. Friday 11.30am: Gardaí search the lands adjacent to the Glen Road for any evidence relating to the murder.

www.garda.ie

Dublin: BREAKING the SILENCE: 10: ‘The Drink In Babies Bottle’

Drink In the Babies Bottle:

By J. P. Anderson ©

This data may assist the Minister for Children and the Committee he proposes to establish in order to discover – ‘Why Children Drink Alcohol’ in his quest;

Early formations of knowledge structures about the concepts of alcohol use are emerging from children during their pre-school (aged 3 to 5) years and furthermore; parental drinking practices are associated with these early formative beliefs.

Studies discovered that there was a higher rate of beverage identification among children of pre-school age, which had parents who were heavy drinkers. These children, were able to correctly identify a large number of alcohol beverages, (e, g; beer, wine, spirits) and to attribute heavier alcohol use to adult men, rather than women.

The acquiring and elaboration of knowledge structures about alcohol use by children was also indicated with regard to the children’s stated intentions to drink alcohol, with a higher percentage of older children indicating that they intended to use alcohol in the future. Alcohol expectancies have been related to higher levels of alcohol consumption, and subsequent treatment outcome variables, (e, g; length of stay in hospital, and relapse probability) among adolescents and adults, and thus, their early origins and development in children are important. Findings for alcohol expectancies among school children, indicates increasingly positive alcohol expectancies across grade levels, with major increases between the third and fourth grades, (8 and 9 year-olds in the USA). That is, by the fourth grade, children tended to believe that the use of alcohol results in positive outcomes, such as higher levels of acceptance and liking by peers, and being in a good mood with positive feelings about ones-self.

These positive alcohol expectancies among fourth-graders correspond with findings that at least 25% of fourth graders reported feeling at least some peer pressure to consume alcoholic beverages. This ’some level’ of peer pressure to consume alcohol increased to approximately 60% amongst seventh-graders. This alcohol use, statistics indicate that by their senior year of high-school, most adolescents will have used alcohol; over 60% will have been drunk and over a quarter will have engaged in binge-drinking. Open parent-child communication about alcohol and drug use and clear guidelines about (use/non-use) appear to be some deterrents of alcohol and drug use among adolescents. Some have viewed the onset of such early alcohol use by children as a symptom of a broader range of childhood problems, behaviours reflective of aberrant or deviant prone adolescents. These adolescents are proposed to have difficulties not only with the early onset of alcohol use, but also with poor school performance, higher use of illicit substances, higher delinquency activity, more deviant peers and more troubled family relations. Furthermore, the parents of such adolescents use alcohol and other substances more frequently and are not disapproving of alcohol and substance use by their off-springs, as are parents of adolescents who abstain from or only experiment with alcohol use. The risk factors for adolescent drinking behaviour, do not occur in a vacuum, but are often highly inter-related. That is, often adolescents may be at risk, not simply because of one factor, but due to the co-occurrence of several such factors.

Three major problem areas have been consistently identified among adolescents who drink alcohol, representing major social and personal difficulties that may be closely associated with the use of alcohol amongst this group, the areas refer to; adverse social consequences associated with the consumption of alcohol and identifies problems at home, at school, with peers or with the authorities. Not surprisingly, higher levels of alcohol consumption are associated with higher levels of alcohol-related problems.

The second alcohol-related problem area refers to dependency symptoms, these symptoms refer to behaviours that we identify with the progressive disease process of alcoholism; the persistent manifestations of these behaviours suggest that professional assistance is advisable.

The third alcohol-related problem area refers to escapist drinking coping motives, that is, when some adolescents feel distressed, due, for example, to conflict with parents or peers or to an upcoming school exam, (self-medicating).

If the alcohol consumption is at very high levels, it may actually undermine the successful resolution of the conflict by increasing negative mood states, thus undermining constructive and thoughtful alternatives. Pharmacologically alcohol is a central nervous system depressant. The initial consumption of alcohol contributes to the suppression, or ‘disinhibinition’ of some behaviours, and this ’disinhibitition’ is often experienced positively with regard to mood. That is, it is experienced as the ’freeing-up’ of felt tensions. However, after a period of time, when the alcohol is diluted via metabolic processes, the second phase emerges, which consist of a downward spiralling associated with more negative mood-states. Hence, alcohol use may provide temporary relief from the stresses of adolescence, but it does little to resolve the causes of the stress and may in fact contribute to dysfunctional (avoidance) coping processes. Homicide and suicide are highly associated with the use of alcohol among adolescents and alcohol has been found in high concentrations among adolescents who have completed suicide.

Alcohol use has often been referred to as ’the gateway’ substance, preceding the use of cannabis and other substances, (e, g; cocaine, heroin). Thus, heavier alcohol use during adolescence may be symptomatic or even prognostic, of a range of current and potentially hazardous behaviours amongst adolescents. Higher levels of adolescent alcohol use have also been associated with a number of other adverse health-related outcomes, including sexual precocity, teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, including, human immune-deficiency virus, (HIV) infection, poor school performance and school dropout. There are a small, but quite significant, number of adolescents who have quite severe problems with alcohol use and meet the clinical criteria for an alcohol disorder. The children and adolescents, who meet these criteria for an alcohol disorder, typically manifest persistent, high-volume drinking-and pervasive adverse social consequences and dependency symptoms. Furthermore, these children typically have a history of childhood behaviour problems, (e, g; conduct disorder difficulties, attention-al deficits), long-term troubled family relations, and a pattern of coexisting substance abuse, (e, g; cannabis or cocaine abuse).

Higher levels of alcohol use and alcohol-related problems among children and adolescents are also associated with a range other deleterious behaviours that are hazardous to the health and well-being of youngsters. The three major causes of adolescent mortality-accidents (e, g; automobile, boating), homicide and suicide are highly associated with the use of alcohol among adolescents. Higher levels of alcohol and other substance use have been associated with higher levels of adolescent suicide ideation, (I, e; thinking about committing suicide), and suicide attempts. Understanding what factors predict alcohol use among children and adolescents-factors that increase the expectation (or probability) that children or adolescents will use or abuse alcohol is referred to as RISK FACTORS. ©

Risk Factors:

Family Government:

has been traditionally been controlled by men, also generally the authors of domestic violence-which in many industrially advanced countries including the USA and Ireland has assumed epidemic proportions.

Family factors associated with increased risk for adolescent alcohol use, include, the drinking practices of other family members (e, g; parents and siblings), marital conflict, poor family management practices- (e, g; failure to monitor children as to where they are, and who they are with etc). Harsh (physically abusive) discipline, physical or sexual abuse, and the lack of a warm, open, nurturing relationship with parents. In brief- highly troubled family relationships serve as a springboard for children and adolescents to engage in higher levels of alcohol-use and other problem behaviours (e, g; delinquency).

Peer factors,

are perhaps the single most highly associated risk factors for adolescent alcohol use. Peer-selection processes are not random, but rather reflect a tendency for adolescents to select friends and peers according to similarities regarding attitudes, values and behaviours. Peer groups are frequently identifiable, contingent on the shared orientation of constituent members. Those peers engaged in alcohol and drugs are referred to by their ’street title’ as ‘heads’.

The friends and peer context is especially important during adolescence to foster a personal identity or sense-of-self, and foster behaviours (e, g; pro-social skills) that are important in young adulthood. The engagement by some adolescents in deviant peer networks may undermine important pro-social skills training and contribute to an alienated sense-of-self, as well fostering more serious involvement in alcohol and drug use and other deviant behaviours.

Social and community factors. Youthful drinking behaviour may be fostered via media sources (e, g; T.V. and magazine commercials, movies and adolescent societal hero/s, (e, g; athletes, rock-stars), that may explicitly or implicitly convey a message that alcohol consumption is associated with positively valued characteristics (e, g; popularity with friends). Such societal media images are further fostered by the absence of serious enforcement of established legal-age standards; enacted to prevent under-age drinking. Stiff legal penalties for adolescents are often associated with the use, and especially the sale of substances identified as illegal for adult use (e, g; cannabis, cocaine).

Nonetheless, alcohol (which is a legal substance for adults, but illegal for adolescents) use by teenagers is not likely to meet with legal enforcement, unless there are extenuating circumstances, such as a car crash. The absence of legal enforcement of the laws regarding underage drinking may contribute in no small way, to an atmosphere of implicit tolerance of alcohol use by teenagers. Easy availability is another community factor, which has serious implications regarding the cause and early onset of alcohol use and abuse by adolescents.

 Second level There are:

students who work part-time to finance a social life are severely disadvantaged when it comes to examinations, as their performance is reduced considerably as a survey carried out in a County Meath secondary school discovered. Revealing that senior cycle students in the school are engaging in part-time work to buy alcohol. If the trend is reflected nationwide, it points to a very serious situation in Ireland’s second level schools. The key findings of the survey were: That 45% spent most of their wages on alcohol. 60% had reduced time for school homework. 54% suffered from fatigue. 40% worked between 10 and 19 hours a week and 12% worked more than 20 hours weekly.

an estimated 95,000 alcoholics in Ireland and also an estimated 150,000 drinkers under the legal drinking age of 18 year old.

To perceive the most extreme of alcohol problems, alcoholism as a disease, requires a kind of mental-health viewpoint not universal in the medical profession or with welfare agencies, to say nothing of the lay public. It is a deviant behaviour, and as such it is seen by many as immorality, weakness of will, perversity, or a bad habit. The World Health Organisation (WHO) and others, no longer accept its description as a disease. Causes attributed as illness of mind, offered as being caused by drinking, actually predate the onset of alcoholism and addiction to other substances (drugs).

Experiments involving groups and the effects of alcohol on the emotional behaviour of individuals drinking together have been conducted by the Finnish Foundation for Alcohol Studies. The limited number of studies to date report, increases in aggressive behaviour, is a sexual content of fantasise, and emotionality of behaviour generally. The alcoholic has not developed much by the way of ego-defences, other than denial, and that he has weak sexual drives, his affectionate bind being largely with alcohol. There are some countries, for example, Sweden and Norway, in which the supervision and rehabilitation of alcoholics is compulsory under law, while in most countries treatment is more-or-less undertaken on a voluntary basis. It has been shown that among alcoholics, the suicide rate is close to seventy times greater than in the population at large, and attempted suicide is also increases by about the same factor; moreover, the vast majority of alcoholics who either achieve suicide or make a non-fatal suicidal act, at the time they do the act, they have in fact got alcohol circulating in their blood. About 5% of drinkers form a dependency on alcohol.

J.P. Anderson©2006.

Dublin: Alcohol Caused Almost 4% Of Deaths Worldwide: WHO

Alcohol causes nearly 4 percent of deaths worldwide, more than AIDS, tuberculosis or violence, the World Health Organisation warned on Friday.

Countries must do more to fight alcohol abuse: WHO

Six-year-old gets alcohol poisoning

Rising incomes have triggered more drinking in heavily populated countries in Africa and Asia, including India and South Africa, and binge drinking is a problem in many developed countries, the United Nations agency said.

Yet alcohol control policies are weak and remain a low priority for most governments despite drinking’s heavy toll on society from road accidents, violence, disease, child neglect and job absenteeism, it said.

Approximately 2.5 million people die each year from alcohol related causes, the WHO said in its “Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health.”

“The harmful use of alcohol is especially fatal for younger age groups and alcohol is the world’s leading risk factor for death among males aged 15-59,” the report found.

In Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), every fifth death is due to harmful drinking, the highest rate.

Binge drinking, which often leads to risky behaviour, is now prevalent in Brazil, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and Ukraine, and rising elsewhere, according to the WHO.

“Worldwide, about 11 percent of drinkers have weekly heavy episodic drinking occasions, with men outnumbering women by four to one. Men consistently engage in hazardous drinking at much higher levels than women in all regions,” the report said.

Health ministers from the WHO’s 193 member states agreed last May to try to curb binge drinking and other growing forms of excessive alcohol use through higher taxes on alcoholic drinks and tighter marketing restrictions.

DISEASE AND INJURY

Alcohol is a causal factor in 60 types of diseases and injuries, according to WHO’s first report on alcohol since 2004.

Its consumption has been linked to cirrhosis of the liver, epilepsy, poisonings, road traffic accidents, violence, and several types of cancer, including cancers of the colorectum, breast, larynx and liver.

“Six or seven years ago we didn’t have strong evidence of a causal relationship between drinking and breast cancer. Now we do,” Vladimir Poznyak, head of WHO’s substance abuse unit who coordinated the report, told Reuters.

Alcohol consumption rates vary greatly, from high levels in developed countries, to the lowest in North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, and southern Asia, whose large Muslim populations often abstain from drinking.

Homemade or illegally produced alcohol — falling outside governmental controls and tax nets — accounts for nearly 30 percent of total worldwide adult consumption. Some is toxic.

In France and other European countries with high levels of adult per capita consumption, heavy episodic drinking is rather low, suggesting more regular but moderate drinking patterns.

Light to moderate drinking can have a beneficial impact on heart disease and stroke, according to the WHO. “However, the beneficial cardio-protective effect of drinking disappears with heavy drinking occasions,” it said.

One of the most effective ways to curb drinking, especially among young people, is to raise taxes, the report said. Setting age limits for buying and consuming alcohol, and regulating alcohol levels in drivers, also reduce abuse if enforced.

Some countries restrict marketing of alcoholic beverages or on the industry’s sponsorship of sporting events.

“Yet not enough countries use these and other effective policy options to prevent death, disease and injury attributable to alcohol consumption,” the WHO said.

Alcohol producers including Diageo and Anheuser Busch InBev have said they recognise the importance of industry self-regulation to address alcohol abuse and promote curbs on drunk drinking and illegal underage drinking.

But the brewer SABMiller has warned that policy measures like minimum pricing and high excise taxes on alcohol could cause more public health harm than good by leading more people to drink homemade or illegally produced alcohol.

(Editing by Laura MacInnis and Paul Casciato)

Dublin: Men Abusing Cannabis Are Courting Sexual Dysfunction

Stephanie Pappas
, LiveScience Senior Writer LiveScience.com stephanie Pappas
, Livescience Senior Writer  livescience.com –

Marijuana users sometimes report that pot enhances their desire for sex. But a new review of research on marijuana and sexual health suggests that male smokers could be courting sexual dysfunction.

Research on the topic is contradictory and few studies are high-quality, said study researcher Rany Shamloul, a physician with appointments at the University of Ottawa and Queen’s University in Canada as well as the University of Cairo. But recent research – including the finding that the penis contains receptors for marijuana’s active ingredient  – suggests that young men may want to think about long-term effects before rolling a joint, Shamloul told LiveScience.

“It’s a strong message to our younger generations and younger men,” Shamloul said.

Shamloul reported his findings online Jan. 26 in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.

Sex and drugs

Scientists first began to study marijuana and sex in the 1970s. Some researchers found that cannabis seemed to have the effect of a love drug; in one 1982 study published in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 75 percent of male pot smokers said the drug enhanced their sex lives. Meanwhile, another study published in the same journal the same year found that erectile dysfunction was twice as common in marijuana users – not such good news for lit lotharios. Other research suggests a dose effect, in which small amounts of marijuana have little impact on sexual dysfunction, but more marijuana makes for fewer erections.

But problems are rife with this research, Shamloul said, because none of the studies used validated measurement techniques when surveying men about their sexual function. The different questions used could skew the responses, as could the drug itself, he noted in the review. The 39 percent of men in the original 1982 study who said marijuana extended the duration of sex may just have been experiencing the drug’s altering effects on the perception of time.

What most concerns Shamloul is a study published in 2010 in the journal European Urology. In that study, researchers found receptors for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in marijuana, in penis tissue from five male patients and six rhesus monkeys. These receptors were mainly in the smooth muscle of the penis, Shamloul said. Additional lab studies suggest that THC has an inhibitory effect on the muscle.

“This is a more serious effect on the erectile function because the smooth muscle makes up 70 percent to 80 percent of the penis itself,” Shamloul said.

Men and marijuana

Marijuana use is widespread, especially among men at their sexual peak in life, Shamloul said. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reports that 162 million people worldwide use marijuana each year. More than 22 million use it daily. That makes understanding long-term effects important, Shamloul said.

People tend to focus on the possible upsides of marijuana more than the possible downsides, said Sharon Johnson, a professor of social work at the University of Missouri, St. Louis, who has studied marijuana use and sexual health in the past. Her study, published in 2004 in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior, found that marijuana users have a slightly elevated risk of inhibited orgasms and pain during sex. (Johnson was not involved in Shamloul’s review study.)

Research on sexual health and marijuana use in women is even less common than studies in men, Shamloul said.

“What we are really missing are clinical studies,” Shamloul said. “We are stuck with only animal studies and molecular studies, and some clinical studies done in the ’60s and ’70s, most on a very small number of men… We need well-designed, placebo-control studies examining marijuana’s effect in both the short-term and long-term.”