Many communities in Dublin's north-inner city are still living with the grim reality of drugs-related problems.
Noel Wardick, CEO of Dublin City Community Cooperative said that people in these areas continue to lose their lives to illegal substances.
He explained that the community needs regular policing to tackle these incidents before it wipes out a huge chunk of the population.
He also believes that education and housing plays a huge role in preventing drug use.
He said: "Public health and violence are absolutely inextricably connected - violence and crime must be treated as a public health response, not a law and order response.
"We have sections of this community subjected to neglect for decades, and subjected to inter-generational poverty and disadvantage that needs to be addressed with a holistic approach.
"It's impossible to live a normal life and a healthy life, and bring up a family, if you don't have suitable housing and suitable accommodation.
"Nearly all the schools in the north inner-city are DEIS schools - education and disadvantage still remains a big issue in the area, despite the significant improvements over the last number of years."
He explained that there was a monument set up to commemorate those who lost their lives to drugs in the area, called “Home.”
It has stood at the intersection of Sean McDermott Street and Buckingham Street for two decades, but Mr Wardick highlighted that the issues are still relevant to today’s community.
The structure is made up of mementos contributed by family members of those who have passed away from heroin addiction including objects like holy communion medals, sporting medals and pictures.
Mr Wardick said: "It's not a historical monument to something that happened deep in the past, it's a living memorial in the sense that people in this community are still impacted severely by drugs, heroin, drug criminals and effectively a drug economy in the area.
"The reality for certain parts of the community is that drugs-related intimidation is a huge fact of life.
"It can be very brutal and it can be very subtle - but I think we all know that you don't have to even inflict pain and violence on people to scare people.
"So yes - there are certain parts of this community that live in constant fear and anxiety, which is no way to try and live and bring up a family."
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