Vol. 455 No. 3
4 Mrs. Geoghegan-Quinn asked the Minister for Health if he intends to commission a national study to determine the extent of drug abuse; when the study will be completed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12021/95]
(Limerick East): The Health Research Board compiles comprehensive details on an annual basis on the persons being treated for drug misuse in the Dublin area. The latest report, for the years 1992 and 1993, indicated that 2,240 persons in 1992 and 2,573 persons in 1993 received treatment for drug misuse. It is accepted, however, that the actual incidence of drug misuse is much higher.
Before any survey along the lines mentioned by the Deputy could be conducted, it would be necessary to define in detail what the parameters of the study should be to ensure that results are valid and reliable. It is also necessary to ensure that they are compatible with the requirements of international bodies to which Ireland supplies data.
At present the parameters for measurement of drug misuse are being developed by the European Monitoring Centre on Drugs and Drug Addiction and by the Pompidou Group. My Department is represented on both of these groups and the Health Research Board is also liaising with them.
The need for a survey has long been recognised but it has been postponed pending the development of agreed parameters by the international groups mentioned. The indications at present are that these agreed parameters will be available by the end of the year and it is my intention to initiate a study immediately after that.
I am pleased we are coming to the end of the argument on parameters because we have waited far too long for European and international bodies to set down agreed parameters. One of the major difficulties in the whole area of drug abuse is that the figures available to the Minister represent only a tiny minority of all the incidents of drug abuse throughout the country. In order to have a comprehensive treatment and prevention programme we need to know the extent of the abuse. If the parameters are agreed in the middle of this year, how soon afterwards can the Minister set about providing such a programme?
(Limerick East): If I have the parameters by the end of 1995, I will be able to proceed in early 1996 and it will simply take the necessary time to set up the Protocols and the procedures.
In the meantime what work is being done in the Department to formulate a comprehensive health education programme in the whole area of drug abuse? To what extent is there co-operation with the Departments of Education and Justice in compiling such a programme?
(Limerick East): An interdepartmental committee comprising the three Departments is chaired by the Department of Justice. If the Deputy were to put down a question it would have to be answered by the Minister for Justice since that Department chairs the committee.
I am not referring to that aspect. The health promotion unit of the Minister's Department does much work in different areas. One of the biggest areas of concern to parents is that of drug abuse and the fear that one of their children will be subject to peer pressure to begin drug abuse. This is a genuine fear of parents. Teachers have the same fear because they are dealing with young children in their classes who are high on various substances. In the interim it is important that a comprehensive health promotion programme, involving the Departments of Education and Justice, be put in place by the Department of Health and promoted in schools throughout the country and advertised on the national airwaves.
(Limerick East): That is already happening. The Minister of State, Deputy Brian O'Shea, speaking on the Adjournment last night on the unfortunate incident at the Point Depot, outlined the initiatives being taken and the joint initiatives between the Departments of Education and Health, in particular, in post-primary schools. The information is available by way of periodicals and pamphlets to all schools. The Minister of State will shortly publish a health promotion document which, among other initiatives on health promotion, will deal with this issue.
Quite apart from the national study to determine the extent of drug abuse, has the Minister up-to-date figures for registered heroin addicts in the Dublin area? Out of a figure of approximately 6,000 addicts registered in the Dublin area, only 400 are availing of a methadone maintenance programme. How many therapeutic beds are available in a residential or hostel setting to assist those who want to come off drugs?
(Limerick East): All that information will be available, but it is not readily available in my brief. I can give a breakdown of the different age groups across the range in which drug abuse occurs. Three-quarters of the 2,573 clients are male, 97 per cent of the clients are between the ages of 15 and 39, eight out of ten are unemployed — perhaps the unemployment was due to the addiction rather than the cause — and four out of ten had left school before the official school leaving age of 15 years. The first reaction is to target health promotion initiatives into the schools. Frequently, the group which is in most need of the information is not school going at the time. That was one of the findings from preliminary inquiries made into the whole area of teenage pregnancies. The information is not necessarily being targeted at the group most at risk even if it is being made available to the schools. There will be a lot more about this in the next couple of weeks. I can undertake to obtain the information requested by the Deputy and forward it to her by letter.
What number of treatment units receive financial support either directly from the Department or from the health boards towards the treatment of drug addiction?
(Limerick East): I am speaking from memory. There are three major treatment centres in Dublin and others are planned. I can provide the information on a health board by health board basis to the Deputy if she requires it.
