asked the Minister for Justice whether there has been any increase in the incidence of drug abuse in Dublin over the past year; and if he will indicate the age-group most represented.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Drug Abuse.
58.
As I have pointed out more than once before in this House, drug abuse as such is not a criminal offence. Consequently the incidence of the abuse is not a matter that can be measured solely or even mainly from statistics in the possession of the Garda Síochána. Neither would I regard the Garda Síochána as the primary source of information on a social problem of this kind, with which other agencies such as hospitals, drug clinics, doctors, teachers and social workers are so closely concerned. The only information available to me that has any bearing on the subject is the information which I gave the House last week, in answer to a parliamentary question on 16th November, about numbers of persons convicted for unauthorised possession of drugs and for the unlawful supply of drugs.