Bernard Allen
Question:270 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of registered illegal drug users. [27038/99]
Written Answers. - Drug Misuse.
Drug misuse in Ireland takes two forms, opiate abuse, which is confined mainly to the greater Dublin area, and the misuse of other drugs such as cannabis, ecstasy, amphetamines, tranquillisers, LSD inhalants-solvents and magic mushrooms, which is a nationwide phenomenon. Because of the illicit nature of drug misuse it is difficult to get a clear estimate of the extent of the problem.
With regard to opiate misuse various estimates have been made of the number of misusers in the greater Dublin area. These range from 8,500 to 13,500.
There is no hard data on the use of other drugs. School surveys indicate that there has been an increase in the consumption of drugs, in particular cannabis. A European school survey project on alcohol and other drugs indicated that 37% of the 2,000 16 year olds surveyed in Ireland had, at some stage, tried cannabis. While on a par with the UK, this figure was high by comparison with other EU member states. This figure should be qualified, however, by noting that of this group of young people, only 10% had used cannabis 20 times or more. The prevalence of the use of cannabis among the group in the last 12 months was 33% and the 30 days prevalence was 19%. With regard to drugs other than cannabis, these included amphetamines, LSD or other hallucinogens, crack, cocaine, ecstasy and heroin, the ESPAD report found that 16% of those surveyed in Ireland had ever used one or more of these drugs. This figure is lower than the UK but is still high by comparison with other EU member states. However, most students who have used any illicit drug other than cannabis have done this only a few times.
The SLAN and HBSC survey of 1999 – a survey of lifestyles, attitudes and nutrition and health behaviour in school aged children – also surveyed drug use among young people and I expect this data to be published shortly.
Currently, all health boards are working on the establishment of information databases, which will provide accurate, timely and comparable data on drug misuse and local drugs task forces continue to collate information on the nature and extent of the problem in their local areas.
In addition, the interim advisory group on drugs, which has been established under the aegis of the Cabinet committee on social inclusion and drugs has listed research into the number of people misusing drugs as a priority for attention.