Heroin Addicts in Dublin City, Ireland 1973

[@Zooboy1994]

The dude on the right is probably the most realistic and honest. A shame. 24 years old and quite bright.

[@Tomi-]

Even the junkies had class back then

[@jvc92-p5m]

😂👌

[@KingLoon3y]

Touch of class goes a long way

[@aric.d]

I know right 🤣

[@thefreedomofliverpool6284]

It’s the methadone and tablets that the state gave addicts to counteract heroin. It turned them into violent zombies with slurred constipated voices.

[@25pappy]

Middle class drug back then. Once it hit the flats it was gameover

[@magarlai-dado]

Mad to put a perspective on time. We are the same distance from this instance as they were, at that time, from the Civil War / Independence. Dunno why that sprung to mind....

[@ShiningLight.]

The War of Independence

[@countsmyth]

Wow, even junkies in the 70's are more eloquent than most Dublin residents now.

[@shane6115]

That’s a very broad statement to make, it’s if you know most Dublin people.

[@countsmyth]

@@shane6115 I'm from Dublin 🙂

[@shane6115]

@@countsmyth ok 👍 fair enough then. We are aloud to slag our own 😀

[@jb6368]

​@@countsmyth sorry to hear that lol

[@oleggorky906]

The guy on the far right seemed well spoken, even if softly so. I noticed during the interview that he had a bout of the infamous opiate itch. I wonder if any of them ever got clean. Does Ireland offer a substitute programme, such as methadone and Subutex? Here in the UK, things have improved somewhat. It used to take about three months from the point of referral to be put on a daily script. Now it can be done in as little as 48 hours, with most being accommodated within five working days.

[@shanegalvin5999]

Fascinating. As others had said, it is amazing how articulate they are. I remember watching a clip on Reeling in the Years in Ballymun and the housewives talked like aristocrats. Amazing how language has evolved in Dublin.

[@doublemarvellous5525]

in a bad way unfortunately. Dubs are very funny tho

[@phototac9287]

Nice crack heads from Ireland

[@TheBomber15]

I feel ‘devolved’ would be more apt. It’s really a shame.

[@stephenmurray9228]

Sayin Add a high register when you listen to Irish people who have n😅thing to lose Its likelisten😅ng to Beowulf

[@michaelwalsh9145]

Are they still alive?

[@carmelhegarty9829]

God Bless those fallen, I hope that they are some point in their lives found healing and PEACE. Thank you CR. for post.🙏🇮🇪🙏

[@lauraleogue414]

Love the simplicity of the filming. You can even hear the gentle wind in the background

[@connoroleary591]

Bless them, poor people. But for the grace of God go any of us.

[@janettedavis6627]

I lived in Dublin for almost 11years and know many youngsters died of drug overdoses Fatima Mansions , Dolphins Barn and Michaels Estate devastated by drugs and death. These places were so bad they had to be demolished. Fatima Mansions was frightening many overdoses and deaths.

[@KingLoon3y]

Wow he hit the nail on the head, “it releases my inhibitions” I hope he’s done well or at least he’s speaking has done so thing for someone.

[@jodiemcbrodie4997]

Genuinely didn’t realise that heroine was available in Dublin as early as the 1970s, my understanding was that the first big time heroine dealer could be traced back to the early 1980s, he was from around the O’Connell Street area and was “credited” with bringing the heroine epidemic to the city. Agree that the drug users being interviewed are extremely articulate and eloquent, even if they’ve limited insight regarding their drug use.

[@pauldoporto6811]

Yeah you're thinking of Larry Dunne,who was the first big importer of heroin.There was always a bit floating around before that though.People would bring it back from Holland or India/Pakistan in smaller amounts and those who were into it would always be able to find some.Some people knew sympathetic doctors that would prescribed other opiates when they couldn't find heroin.I don't think methadone was available in those days.

[@jodiemcbrodie4997]

@@pauldoporto6811 Yes, just had a look into Larry Dunne online, he started selling heroine in the late 1970s. Another name that comes to mind is Anthony "Tony" Felloni. He was married to a sister of Mannix Flynn. Tony Felloni started selling heroine a few years after Larry Dunne, in the 1980s.

[@shutup2751]

it's creepy looking at this video seeing how small the scene was back then, now those importing drugs into the country are more powerful than the likes of larry dunne could even dream of

[@deeppurple883]

Prescribed heroine them days. Then Larry came along. ✌🏿☘️

[@Klynch111]

Was filoni not responsible for bringjng heroin to Dublin?

[@luckbeforeleap]

Would love to know if any of these people are still alive now ? or what happened to them in life ? They seemed pretty together in fairness. Guess they'd be in their early Seventies now ...

[@harleymonroe_xx5307]

The woman Dolores is my grandmother (more like my mother ) she passed away from cancer she married her soul mate had 4 kids 3 girls and 1 boy , I was her youngest daughters daughter, the first born grand child she was the most loving kind hearted human to ever walk the earth ..she raised me with my grandad two absolute old school gems and thought me everything I know sadly they both passed wen I was 8

[@thedublindemon3177]

@@harleymonroe_xx5307 she’s my great auntie, I have the same last name as her Mulhall

[@patkearney9320]

​@@harleymonroe_xx5307And in you the Jem shines brightly regards to you and yours what a wonderful moment in time? She married her soul mate that's a blessing that good spring's from you.

[@cakepudding3220]

@@harleymonroe_xx5307 How comes your grandma raised you. May I ask what happened to your parents? X

[@alanchamberlain9902]

@@harleymonroe_xx5307 What year did she pass away?

[@welfarebeast8576]

50 years after are anyone in this video still among us? I would be really surprised if so…

[@conorcrosbie9338]

Absolutely, I’m from Dublin and live in British Columbia and the gentleman in the middle is living on the streets in the city where I live. He’s in good health the last time I seen him and is well known around the city and is helped out by local business owners. He’s a soft soul and always in good form.

[@ko0974]

​@conorcrothank you he comes across as an old soul even 50 years agosbie9338

[@weeklycreep]

I think we're just amazed at how well spoken and articulate these people are. Would love to know where they ended up

[@Lilly-hh9es]

Dead

[@Goosefrabba]

@@Lilly-hh9es😂😂

[@threerock.redmond7550]

the guy in the middle with the beard..I swear is christy gamble from Ringsend..quite a character..did die from a n overdose in the 80s ..

[@ElektrOpium]

You're surprised because you've been conditioned by decades of drug propaganda to believe in the opposite. I've lived it & I'm not surprised at all.

[@THAIRISH_92]

Drugs were a middle class hippy thing back in Dublin in the 60s and 70s. Once the working class got a taste for drugs though, it was all over…

[@rossmorebaz]

50 years ago already .. i wonder how their lives turned out

[@harleymonroe_xx5307]

I'm the woman's grandchil

[@masterofpain120]

​@@harleymonroe_xx5307 frfr?

[@antseanbheanbocht4993]

How'd she get on ​@@harleymonroe_xx5307

[@MartinaDowney-ql9rz]

She a lovely face

[@cassiuscarr9168]

Why are drug addicted people so well spoken in the 1970s

[@seekp2676]

its europe 😆

[@BOC_Europe_24]

You'll find archive interviews covering any issue are generally better spoken. Not sure why but compared to the contemporary equivalents who sound like a lobotomised Joe Duffy. I get the feeling this is back before 1mg/ml Phy was the standard maintenance treatment and it was managed by a few GPs using ad hoc brown and green prescribing. The main drug of choice then would've been either hash, solvents or glue but it was also when Christy Brown started importing the heroin and the garda in charge of drug enforcement was regularly slagged off for looking for his bucket of morphine. Just shows how much public services new about it then. There was no formal detox protocol except in a few hospitals, usually privately, and places like Coolmine were only on the drawing board. At least it hadn't become such an epidemic just yet and there was more grey area medical treatment available instead of just criminalising it under the MDA 1973. Even up until the 2000s, the standard detox protocol in Mountjoy was a 3 day Phy taper which was worse than useless.

[@sevans606]

​@@BOC_Europe_24was it not Christy Dunne or Kinahan

[@tomgreene1843]

They were educated under an older system....but we got smart and threw it out.

[@sadhu7191]

I am and I look clean like I don't take drugs

[@jinxterx]

"Although I do fix regularly I haven't got a habit" 😂

[@HimWitDaHair98]

Ah yeah I OD'd 3 or 4 times, but I think a person knows how much is enough

[@gerthie]

🤣🤣

[@jimbobjimjim6500]

Doesnt get more Irish than that......Im Irish.

[@thomassmith7374]

Sad, hope they all pulled through and got off the smack.

[@1337fraggzb00N]

Consider this: even heroin addicts in 1973 were more well-spoken and better dressed than the President of the United States of America in 2024.

[@shutup2751]

how did no one think back then in 1973 about nipping the problem in the bud then ? now look at the streets of dublin today it's a billion times worse than back then

[@AJ00074]

Many families tried very hard to get the pushers out of the flats. It turned out to be easier said than done though…

[@andydixon2980]

Nice people. More likely alot nicer than those 'running' the country.

[@tommiemanga4397]

Amen

[@anneliamohara2842]

Never seen this before , from Dublin myself Gardiner street Mountjoy square . Very good documentary . Living in the States now .

[@1choccoman]

You're a clown!!

[@patrickglennon7058]

@@anneliamohara2842 what city?

[@khiggins7231]

These people are not typical of the working class heroin addict that became the norm from the late seventies onwards. These people are obviously educated and articulate

[@shutup2751]

@@johnbalance3989 who was supplying it at the time though ?

[@patmurphy6843]

that's is not at all true, and classist.

[@khiggins7231]

@@patmurphy6843It is true. Heroine was not a big problem at the time and most of it was brought in from England.

[@chrismanners9091]

@@patmurphy6843 My first reaction to the video (I'm not Irish, so was only guessing) was that these users were fairly middle class, and they do sound different to how we might expect from what happened later with the inner city epidemic. The explanation might be that heroin was more of a "scene" in 1973, rather than the ubiquitous thing it later became. I think in England in the early 60s, lots of the users were jazz cat types in a fairly small part of central London. I can imagine the people interviewed here being Bohemians, where people shared an outlook rather than a class background.

[@ElektrOpium]

Because what most people believe about drugs are myths & flat out lies. You've been conditioned for decades by drug war propaganda to believe that drug users are all babbling idiots.

[@pauloconnor7392]

These r the best spoken junkies ever

[@sobraine123]

Stephen's Green ?

[@johnnymolloy3813]

God love them🙏

[@mkAYY825]

i didnt know there was heroin going around in dublin that long ago....

[@patrickball2493]

I think it was all smoked, inhaled but not injected . That method of injecting didn't arise until the 80s .

[@KolyaNickD]

Wonder what happened to them in the end. In theory you can live to 100 addicted to H if it's pharmacetical grade clean. Certainly less damaging to the body than alcohol.

[@ElektrOpium]

Very much the truth! And the masses have all been conditioned to believe H is some how "worse" for your health than alcohol. Utter hypocrisy is rampant in society.

[@kid--presentable]

Utter bollocks

[@spacetweek]

Junkies in Dublin have really gone downhill in the last 50 years.

[@gjones8847]

Seem like nice people

[@marymcdonagh-ql4sx]

I remember as a kid growing up, in the late 70/ 80,s , we were made to FEAR heroin addicts!, And if you saw one walking funny , like out of his face?, You litterly would be terrified! , The things is back in those days they had no methadone to fall back on, so those addicts would have been suffering terrible from withdrawal!, And Kids now days are litterly raised with addict parents or raised in a housing estate were drugs are all around them and they are soo used to it , some even start hanging out with the young lads who are selling it , who are usually in their late teens or early twenties. , I saw boys as young as 13 selling coke and heroin and crack and they were doing the drill like they was all grown up, I shook my head and walked away in disbelief!! 🤔😳🙊 It,s sad because you can bet they will be spending alot of their youth in and out of prison!🥺😟

[@sarraconnolly3774]

not all of us addicts are stereotypical of what society brandished us

[@ElektrOpium]

People have been completely conditioned by decades of drug war propaganda to believe in full blown myths & lies, especially about heroin.

[@kid--presentable]

God bless them , they had no idea what was to come

[@sunny9233]

I wonder where these people are now. I hope life gave them many blessings .

[@philipdonnery1268]

The guy in the middle is hardly that chap Pauly T who has rhe KZbin chanel interviewing people around Dublin. Its called kold turkey i think

[@patmurphy6843]

is he over 70

[@daniellecamp4963]

@koldturkey is that u?

[@theliamofella]

It just shows you that alcohol is worse than heroin, an alcoholic would never be this articulate, the problem with heroin addicts that makes them get such a bad reputation is that they have to get the cash to get their drugs every day and that’s where the problem lies But the drug itself doesn’t have a big effect on the brain cells or the personality in a bad way (not in comparison to alcohol anyway)

[@raborian]

Nah... loads of alcoholics can hide it, and can be just as articulate as this lot. What about the heroin addicts that you see sprawled out down back alleys of O connell Street.. how articulate are they in your opinion?

[@paulmcgrath6118]

Are you serious ? Have you ever had a proper conversation with someone after they have banged up

[@theliamofella]

@Paul McGrath considering I’ve been a heroin addict for over 20 years now and a crack addict for about 15 years I think I have seen one or two, and as alcohol is a curse on my family (my mother doesn’t drink but it’s destroyed her life) my dad died from alcohol and 9 uncles died from alcohol abuse, and many alcoholics in my family (I’m from a very big family) , yeah someone who has shot up will drift off into a kind of living death, but they usually won’t beat up their wife and children because of it (unless it’s about money), Both will destroy your soul amd your reputation and your life, the only good drugs in my opinion are the psychedelics ✌️

[@theliamofella]

@Rory Kennedy thanks for your reply, I only just seen it, my reply is for you too, ✌️👍

[@paulmcgrath6118]

@@theliamofella I never said anything about beating their kids up but just trying to have a conversation with someone on heroin is painful, lots of people can function on it to an extent but I knew plenty who would just fall asleep half way through a conversation or even while they were having a smoke , getting ash or hot rocks everywhere. I wouldn’t say I ever knew a drug addict I could rely on for anything , though many were nice people

[@moonlightttt156]

Wow back then drug addict were well spoken

[@johnathandaviddunster38]

😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@ElektrOpium]

Because what most people believe about drugs are myths & flat out lies. You've been conditioned for decades by drug war propaganda to believe that drug users are all babbling idiots.

[@bloke1348]

Probably would have been more informative to have interviewed them individually....wonder what eventually happened to them

[@toyotaprius79]

And it's going through the DTs of alcoholic and benzoates addiction that can kill you...

[@allisnotwhatitseems.]

They sound more like actors than addicts. Unless the heroin was much milder then.

[@ElektrOpium]

No, you've just been conditioned by decades of drug war propaganda to believe heroin users are all a bunch of babbling, dysfunctional idiots.

[@michaelmuldowney8]

I’ve been fixing every day for 6 years - but I don’t have a habit !!! 🤦

[@gerthie]

I hope they got it together they had a lot to give what a wasre

[@johnryan8173]

I wonder if they arè still alive

[@philipmaguire7638]

The girl Delores otherwise known as dodo died a few years back rip

[@markhalpin4377]

Wonder are they still with us ....hope they were happy

[@jimmymcjimmyvich9052]

When drugs made people eloquent and content. Drugs must have dis-improved somewhat.

[@ElektrOpium]

No, you've just been conditioned by decades of drug war propaganda to believe all heroin users are babbling dysfunctional idiots.

[@danielowens9295]

Pity they’re not like that now…

[@fergal4597]

Damn Beatniks!

[@fleontrotsky]

Guy on the right is a waffler. Met many like him.

[@88gdb]

Very early video of People before profit

[@JamesBarometer-jv9kk]

😃

[@davidryan2874]

They spoke a lot of sense

[@ninaborovsky9992]

Thanks 👍

[@christinesbetterknitting4533]

It sure is a self-absorbed activity. No service to anyone else in society in their minds. Very very fatalistic and sad.

[@ElektrOpium]

I know many addicts who do things for their communities & those in need. Your comment is just stereotyping & ignorant.

[@christinesbetterknitting4533]

The man on the right side sure "feels" a lot, but he does not "think" much. If he had to pay for his own hospital care, he might not take so many drugs.

[@theeggtimertictic1136]

I agree but we could say the same about alcohol or smoking even though it's legal over 18 ... Bizarre.

[@decmurray1096]

If punitive measures worked as a deterrent, the US would have less drug taking. It sounds like you're suggesting that they get left to die after an OD?

[@christinesbetterknitting4533]

@decmurray1096 I suggest they become responsible for their own healthcare costs if they feel like taking drugs for fun.

[@decmurray1096]

@@christinesbetterknitting4533 And that's why there's 50,000 opioid deaths per year in the US. Compare that to Portugal where they have reduced opioid deaths by 50% through decriminalisation, education and rehabilitation. One way exacerbates things, the other improves. Which is preferable to you?

[@paddyt4043]

With what I pay in cigarette taxes I pay for every bit of health care I get and alot more

[@Weebay_213]

My type of addict

[@williambinions4205]

They look like the hungerstrikers but more upmarket

[@DidYaServe]

They seem like great people but their approach to drugs is fatalistic which is ultimately sad.

[@ElektrOpium]

Hilarious you say that, since the 2 dudes are still alive to this day. And the woman died of cancer.... Just like she said people could. Your worldview is the one that's fatalistic because you think your way of thinking is the only correct one.

[@ItsRael108]

VANESSA (Co Cork)

[@bizzjoe]

Can you elaborate ?

[@swisstony5237]

Lol.....more info please!

[@YesOkayButWhy]

"Moving down the water John is drifting out of sight, Its only at the turning point That you find out how you fight. In the cold, feel the cold All around And the rush of crashing water Surrounds me with its sound. Striking out to reach you I can't get through to the other side, When you're racing in the rapids There's only one way, that's to ride. Taken down, taken down By the undertow I'm spiraled down the river bed, My fire is burning low. Catching hold of a rock that's firm, I'm waiting for John to be carried past. We hold together, hold together and shoot the rapids fast. And when the waters slow down The dark and the deep Have no-one, no-one, no-one, no-one No-one left to keep. Hang on John! We're out of this at last. Somethings changed, that's not your face. It's mine - it's mine!"

[@ItsRael108]

@@YesOkayButWhy great lyrics 🎼🇬🇧

[@YesOkayButWhy]

@@ItsRael108 I presume you're a G fan? Or just a coincidence? The lamb.

[@howardmckeown7187]

how does the interviewer know he won't get hit with a bus, 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@dormerhouse1]

Back when the Dubs could speak English 😂😂

[@cathalbutler]

“I’m 24 at the moment”

[@eamonngreene7594]

All ya get these days is mehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[@looooove1410]

damn, they're cool as fuck, wanna be like them when I grow up

[@АртёмСиницкий-п3щ]

Then you should start with reading the Naked Lunch first

[@looooove1410]

@@АртёмСиницкий-п3щ that comment was just an edgy joke, actually I was just about to buy this book next week :)

[@АртёмСиницкий-п3щ]

@@looooove1410 I kinda sensed that, book is fascinating, also might wanna check out the Burroughs' own narration of some excerpts from it here on KZbin. Best of wishes, amigo

[@fredfredericks3496]

Sort your life out if that's the case. These are actors, the same way Bill Gates acts as a scientist. Screw your head on right, and thank me later.

[@lallyoisin]

They must have had a more natural drug back then. Whatever synthetic crap they are using today they are unable to string two words together. I wonder did they make it through their addiction.

[@ElektrOpium]

No, you've just been conditioned by decades of drug war propaganda to believe all heroin/opioid users are babbling, dysfunctional idiots. PS : Just because something is "synthetic" doesn't mean it's automatically "worse" for you. Arsenic is all "natural" but I wouldn't tell some one to take it. However, the fentanyl & tranq garbage going around (predominantly in America) IS worse for you.

[@keithharris5452]

It was easy to break into and rob chemists in them days the streets were flooded with pharmaceutical drug in the early 70s.

[@Harley-ir4er]

The Interviewer is such a square - These three individuals would flourish in another Country, I hope they Emigrated and I hope they're still with us.

[@YesOkayButWhy]

?

[@johnfay330]

Got a euro.. I mean a pound for the bus.. Lovely to hear they aren't asking for busfare😂

[@piplee1439]

Old Maureen or whatever her name was was a delight to dupe

[@patrickmulholland3811]

So would I, they'd be in there 70s maybe 80s, most are gone 😅😅

[@Leo-dr4qm]

Dykenol then

[@sergez6172]

Literally the ucd member's bar club and the upper class started the shit

[@flyingknee8069]

I presume these three are dead now

[@howardmckeown7187]

and?

[@ElektrOpium]

And your presumptions are nothing more than a byproduct of all the drug war conditioning you've had pumped into your brain. The 2 dudes are very much still alive. And the woman died of cancer. Pretty ironic since the interviewer tried telling her she'd die from heroin & she said "you could die from cancer" and then she did. And now we have baffoons like you in 2024 saying shit like this.

[@angel101025]

Before aids

[@trevormccarthy9019]

Isn’t it dangerous ?.. not at all, if you’re aware of the danger. LOL

[@ElektrOpium]

Everything is dangerous. Getting into a car is dangerous. Taking too much tylenol is dangerous. Just because something CAN be dangerous, doesn't mean it always is. I don't think your little quote-joke is as smart as you think it is.

[@moonlightttt156]

Funny I grew up ireland 80s 90s and never heard or notice drugs now Ireland is terrible

[@peakseamus]

...I wonder how things ended for these knowitalls

[@YesOkayButWhy]

Knowitalls??

[@ElektrOpium]

The 2 dudes are still alive & the woman died of cancer (just like she said could happen to people). But I guess you thought you were the real know it all with your ignorant comment, right?

[@peakseamus]

@@ElektrOpium oh well, they must have snapped out of the toocoolforskool phase

[@Carroty_Peg]

boomer truth regime :( :(

[@CaptainHi-Top-w5q]

Chronics trying to convince themselves they"ve got the answers

[@acropolisnow9466]

Smackheads are always so high-minded.

[@chrismanners9091]

Great interview, calm and honest and informative for the viewer. Saw an interview with an English heroin addict somewhere from about this time, and she was similarly articulate. Suggests to me that the profile of users at this time was different to how it became in the 80s. More of a Bohemian scene drug than an "inner city" one.

[@KingLoon3y]

Wow he hit the nail on the head, “it releases my inhibitions” I hope he’s done well or at least he’s speaking has done so thing for someone.