A sharp rise in crack cocaine use is transforming the streets around Merchant’s Quay, with frontline staff warning that the drug’s volatility is spilling into the public realm.

Crack cocaine has taken hold across Dublin’s Inner City at a pace that workers say they have never seen before. Treatment demand is up 31 per cent over the past year and more than 900 per cent since 2017, according to staff, who now issue thousands more crack pipes than before.

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