There was always fairly easy access to soft drugs, hashish eg in Belfast in the 70's and 80's. In my oppinion it was never distributed in a major way but having said that I never dealt in it myself. I played in a Rock band at the time and it was part of that culture as anywhere else in the world really. But to say that drugs have anything to do with the sectarian divide is nonsense. I have to say that guys at the time who were dealing did fear retribution from the local provos (I can only speak to the one side of the community). I did witness a guy getting a very severe warning in a toilet in a pretty famous Belfast bar one night that consisted of his head coming into close contact with life at the bottom of a toilet bowl. His stuff was taken from him and flushed by a couple of guys I wouldn't want to tangle with. In another vein since the cease fire it seems to me that petty crime seems to be on the rise and it seems these days you hear about pedophiles and rape that would almost have been unheard of a few years ago. Just a thought Den.