Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 7 May 1997

Vol. 478 No. 7

Written Answers - Drug Abuse.

Ivor Callely

Question:

81 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Health his understanding of the percentage of youths who may participate in illegal drug use; the measures, if any, he intends to introduce to address this situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12191/97]

Minister for Health (Mr. Noonan,

Limerick East): There are no hard data on the percentage of youths who may participate in illegal drug use. The Health Research Board report on Treated Drug Misuse in Ireland (1995) noted that 3,399 people, of whom 31 per cent, or 1,054, were teenagers, presented for treatment in the greater Dublin area and 766 persons, of whom 39 per cent, or 299, were teenagers, in the rest of the country. It must be emphasised that this is the number of people who received treatment, so the total number of people misusing drugs would be considerably in excess of this figure. The main drugs of misuse in all health boards are ecstasy and cannabis, while the abuse of heroin is mainly confined to the Dublin area. In order to address the problem of lack of information on the prevalence of drug misuse Government decisions in February 1996 recommended that “there should be greater emphasis on providing basic information on the extent and type of drug misuse”. As a result of these decisions, health boards are establishing databases in order to provide more reliable and comparable information in the future.

The drugs issue has been a high priority for the Government, especially in the recent past. On 20 February 1996 the Government approved proposals on new demand reduction measures to prevent drug misuse. The objectives of the proposals were based on two key elements: reducing the number of people turning to drug misuse in the first instance through information, education and prevention programmes; and providing a range of treatment options for those addicted to drugs, the ultimate objective of which must be a return to a drug free lifestyle, although this may not be a realistic goal in every instance, in the short term at least.

Health boards and my Department's Health Promotion Unit worked on the implementation of the decisions. In addition, a Ministerial Task Force was set up to examine the measures required to reduce the demand for drugs. It published its first report in October 1996 and the recommendations of the report in relation to service provision are: health boards to move to eliminate drug treatment waiting lists, with the Eastern Health Board waiting list to be eliminated in 1997; particular attention to the needs of young misusers in the priority areas, priority status for Community Employment (CE) applications offering integrated services for recovering addicts; a series of education and prevention steps, including enhanced measures to reduce truancy and anti-drug programme for all primary schools in priority areas; an estate improvement programme for severely run-down urban housing estates; and local authorities to develop sports and recreation activities in the priority areas, within the national sports strategy framework.

Additional funding of £14 million was approved and arrangements to implement these recommendations are being put in place as a matter of urgency. All health boards have developed comprehensive service plans for 1997 in response to the Government decisions and significant progress has been made, particularly in the Eastern Health Board to ensure that adequate prevention and treatment services are available.