A report prepared by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction — EMCDDA — has indicated that up to 37 per cent of 15 and 16 year olds, among the school-going population in this State, reported that, at some stage they had tried cannabis.
These figures are on a par with those for the United Kingdom but seem higher than those for other European countries. The figures include both once-off, single, experimentation as well as more frequent use. The preparation of cross-national data on drug use is at a very early stage and results need to be treated with caution. The results from the survey referred to and from other sources indicate that illegal drugs are relatively widely available and that young people seem increasingly prepared to experiment with their use. Cannabis, in particular, seems to be used fairly widely, as is ecstasy. The use of heroin remains a serious problem in urban disadvantaged areas, especially in Dublin.
The results of the survey referred to and other surveys tend to confirm certain worrying trends which have been known to those concerned with drug misuse by young people for some time past, including my Department. It is because of the concern about the trends that my Department, in co-operation with the Department of Health and Children, has introduced a programme of substance misuse prevention for post-primary schools and has begun the development of a similar programme for primary schools. We have also expanded the network of health promoting schools and introduced extensive and intensive training programmes for teachers on implementing substance misuse prevention education for primary schools.
The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment has been requested to prepare guidelines for schools, at primary and second levels, to ensure that social personal and health education — to include education about use of substances — will become an identified part of the curricula of schools at both levels.
Youthwork is recognised as a particularly successful intervention in terms of demand reduction among young people. In the youth services area, the Department of Education and Science co-operates with the Department of Health and Children in introducing education about use of drugs, especially as part of the national youth health programme, and in support of the development of resource materials and training for youth workers.
My Department participates actively in the work of the national drugs strategy team, which supports the development of plans by local drugs task forces. The aim of many of the proposals contained in these plans is to strengthen local youth services in providing healthy alternatives to drug use for young people and to support school programmes of substance misuse prevention education.
All these initiatives which have begun, or have been developed recently, will be expanded. By their nature, drugs education programmes take time to show the extent to which they influence attitudes and behaviour. All programmes are evaluated on an ongoing basis. The earlier indications from the evaluation of the post-primary programme are that it is having an impact on those participating. It is important that the programmes are modified and adopted in the light of evaluation findings and of trends in drugs use as shown in surveys. It is my intention that such modification and adaptation should occur in respect of the programmes already in place and that we will be engaged in ongoing developments in the matter.