Peter Barry
Question:44 Mr. Barry asked the Minister for Health if, in view of the operation for some time of the various promotional and awareness programmes on drugs misuse, he will make a statement on their efficacy.
Written Answers. - Drugs Misuse.
Drug misuse is a complex, difficult and often distressing problem and I believe that effective approaches to tackling the problem of drug misuse must be part of an integrated and coherent strategy involving a number of agencies including health professionals, educationalists, parents and voluntary groups.
To this end my Department's health promotion unit and the health boards have been engaged in a wide range of inter-sectoral activities to prevent the misuse of drugs. Specific programmes are in place in the formal and informal education sectors. In the North-Western Health Board, for example, a lifeskills programme for second-level schools has been in operation for many years and this deals with, inter alia, substance abuse. This programme has, in recent years, been extended to primary schools.
At primary school level I have also recently launched the Bí Folláin programme in the Mid-Western Health Board. Bí Folláin is a holistic health education programme for primary schools which has been piloted in the past three years in the Mid-Western Health Board. Although not dealing exclusively with substance misuse the programme equips young people with the skills necessary to make healthy lifestyle choices. The evaluation of this programme was very positive and consideration is now being given as to how this programme can be made available to other health boards.
At second level a substance abuse prevention programme is being developed by the health promotion unit and the psychological service of the Department of Education. This programme commenced on a pilot basis in 8 second level schools in September 1991 with the support of the European Commission and Mater Dei Counselling Centre. This comprehensive programme involves the whole school staff and includes materials on assertiveness, self-esteem, influences on young people and decision making skills. An interim evaluation of Phase I of the programme has just been carried out and this indicated very positive results. Phase II will run during the 1992-93 school year and following a final evaluation materials will be made available nationwide. The fact that this programme is referred to in the Department of Education's Green Paper on Education indicates my colleague the Minister for Education's interest in the expansion of this Programme in the year's ahead.
Also at second level, AIDS education resources materials have been disseminated. These materials were jointly developed by the health promotion unit and the psychological service of the Department of Education and circulated to all second level schools in September 1990. The materials carry specific information on the dangers of drug misuse and the risk of HIV infection. In-service training was offered to teachers in all schools. Evaluation of the programme and its effectiveness is being conducted at the moment and results of this evaluation will be available by the end of the current year.
In the informal education sector the drink awareness for youth programme was jointly developed by the health promotion unit and the National Youth Council of Ireland. This programme has been running in youth clubs and schools all over the country since October 1990. Over one thousand people have been trained to use the programme which uses participative learning methods to improve decision making skills and enhance the self-esteem of young people so that they can say "No" to drug misuse. A detailed evaluation of both trainers and young people's attitudes to the programme and its effectiveness is in progress at the moment. Results of this evaluation will be available in early 1993.
At community level "Drugs Questions Local Answers" is a community based training programme that tackles drug problems. Since its launch in 1987 this programme has been effective in enabling both professional and voluntary agencies to co-operate in drug prevention strategies. In my Department we are very much aware of the contribution that can be made by voluntary organisations and we support the very fine work that is being done by such organisations.
The health promotion unit has also initiated a pilot drug education project for parents in the Southern Health Board in conjunction with the Cork Social and Health Education Project. This project focuses, not only on the drugs themselves, but also on the skills and personal attributes that help parents deal with drug situations in which children might find themselves.
At European Community Level the Council of Health Ministers has called for a special week that will focus on drug misuse prevention. November 16-22nd of this year has accordingly been designated European Drug Prevention Week by the European Commission. This week will emphasise prevention strategies and initiatives targetted at young people.
In Ireland a national steering committee has been established and regional co-ordinators have been appointed who will plan and oversee a range of actions and activities that will help focus on efforts that are being made to prevent drug misuse amongst young people. In planning for this week there has been co-operation between the Departments of Health, Education, Justice and Labour and the non-statutory sector. The degree of co-operation achieved to date bodes well for further initiatives in this area.
As a back up to these programmes and as stand alone educational materials a wide range of promotional literature is distributed free of charge through the Health Promotion Unit's public office. This includes the following titles:
Drugs Your Choice (for young people)
Understanding Drugs (for parents)
You, Drink and Your Life
You, Drink and your Children
You, Drink and Young People
Women and Alcohol
Information on Smoking and Health
So You Want to Stop Smoking Hepatitis B
The huge demand for these materials is an indication of how useful they are for professionals, educators and youth leaders.
There is no doubt that such inter-sectoral strategies work. The co-ordinated efforts of my own Department with other agencies in reducing the consumption of tobacco products is evidence of this.
The Deputy will appreciate from the above information that the various promotional and awareness programmes on drug misuse have been evaluated at pilot stage and, again when they have been fully operational for some time. These evaluations consistently show that such programmes can be effective and that there is a demand for them not only from teachers and youth leaders but also from young people themselves. Our drug misuse awareness programme is only one component of the Government's comprehensive strategy to prevent drug misuse. In this strategy we have set out to implement realistic and achievable objectives in the areas of supply reduction, demand reduction and increased access to treatment and rehabilitation programmes. This strategy also sets out a comprehensive co-ordinated structure which is geared towards effective implementation of all aspects of programmes geared to combat drug misuse.