From one Limerick man to another, I welcome the Minister, Deputy Michael Noonan, and congratulate him on his appointment as Minister for Health.
Death of Former Member. - Strategy to Combat Drug Abuse: Motion.
Acting Chairman
I move:
That Seanad Éireann, recognising the growth of drug abuse in society, calls on the Government to outline its strategy and policies to combat this growing problem.
I welcome the Minister. I have been reading some literature on this matter over the last few days. When I think of the problem of drug abuse my automatic reaction, which is probably that of a large number of people, is that all drug abusers, and certainly drug pushers, should be locked up and the key thrown away. To our cost we have to realise that there is no simple solution to the huge problems caused by the massive growth in drug abuse.
I would like to comment specifically on the increase in drug abuse in Dublin. In the past probably the worst effect of disadvantage and deprivation was that a section of society felt itself isolated. Unfortunately, nowadays the effects are far more serious. The worst effect can be death for people in that section of society. Current estimates of the number of injecting drug users in the greater Dublin area put the figure as high as 7,000. I have looked at other reports which dated from a few years ago, when the figure was about 2,000 to 4,000. It has escalated very quickly and appears to be out of control. The figure of 7,000, as the Acting Chairman would know, is enough to populate many an Irish town. Further estimates show that anything from 11 to 36 per cent of drug users carry the HIV virus. If those statistics are correct, we can expect anything from 800 to 2,500 people in this group to die from AIDS in the coming years. Taking the most gloomy estimate, the current level of drug addiction in Dublin alone, where the heroin injection problem is largely concentrated, will probably kill roughly as many people as those killed in the conflict in Northern Ireland in the last 25 years. Those figures point to the fact that we have a real crisis on our hands, which cannot be addressed in isolation by the Department of Justice, the Department of Health or the Department of Education. It needs the combined approach of all three Departments. In the last 12 months I have been calling for such a debate, even from the Government side of the House.
One of the differences between the wave of addiction which affected many poor areas of Dublin city in the 1970s and the early 1980s and the current wave is that a lower age group is now experimenting with drugs. A recent report showed that over 56 per cent of those who first used primary drugs were aged between 15 and 19 years. Of that group a high proportion were using hallucinogens, such as ecstasy and, to a lesser extent, LSD. The popularity of ecstasy, which is used extensively at discos and parties, certainly in Dublin and larger cities, combined with the fall in the price of heroin, has made the problem far worse. Garda sources state that the price of heroin in the streets has halved in the past 15 years. The effect of disadvantage and deprivation is now very serious and can mean death.
A report entitled Treated Drug Misusers in the Greater Dublin Area, by Kathleen O'Higgins and Mary O'Brien, during the period 1992-3 shows there is a strong link between low social and economic status and rates of drug misuse. It further shows that eight out of ten clients were unemployed and over one third had left school before the official leaving age of 15 years. It further highlights that treated clients who were living in deprived city areas rose from 28 per cent in 1992 to 31 per cent in 1993. Around one third of those people came from the north inner city areas.
Fr. Peter McVerry, when he recently called for improvements in the facilities available for treatment of drugs, speculated that 80 per cent of street crime in the Dublin area is drug related. Even those of us who are lucky enough not to have been affected by drug abuse will probably experience the effects of it in other situations and circumstances. The bulk of public meetings I attend and the representations I receive from constituents are related to the huge increase in crime and what seems to be the easy availability of drugs on the streets. This would also be true of my colleagues in the Chamber and the Minister. The increase in break-ins and the apparent inability of the Garda to cope adequately and give adequate levels of protection to the community are issues which are raised on a daily basis with all politicians.
The position of the Garda trying to cope with the growth in crime and the increased drug abuse in society has been compared by somebody, who painted what I thought was a very vivid picture to me, to putting a stopper in a sink, turning on both taps, handing a garda a teaspoon and telling him to cope with the problem before the sink floods. The Minister would have to agree that there is absolutely no way that an under-resourced Garda Síochána or health service could possibly deal with the problem. Unless we have an adequate number of Gardaí working in communities in this city and an adequate number of treatment centres for those presenting themselves for treatment programmes, there is no way we will get to grips with the problem.
The powers of the Garda to make arrests are seriously hampered by the fact that unless they can prove a person was selling or receiving drugs they have little or no chance of gaining a conviction in court. This is despite the fact that Garda units have undertaken surveillance work for months on end and have photographic proof, yet at the time of a raid the drugs were either thrown into a fire, conveniently kept lighting throughout the year, or were swallowed by the person about to be apprehended. It appears that the laws currently in place do not assist the Garda in their efforts to apprehend drug pushers. Special drug units are needed in every Garda station in urban areas. From meetings that I have had with the local superintendent in my area, I know that not all gardaí are trained to deal with this problem. It has been proven that the chances of success are much higher where there are specialised units.
Another problem which needs to be tackled urgently is the inadequate number of detoxification and treatment centres for those who are trying to deal with their problem. This is where the Department of Health's involvement comes in. Resources need to be reallocated to help addicts. The Irish Times recently reported that drug addicts seeking detoxification have to wait four to six weeks for treatment in Dublin, and may have to wait three months for admission to the drugs treatment unit at Beaumont Hospital.
Statistically, it is possible — although I do not know how this is calculated — that the number of crimes an addict has to commit to feed his or her habit while awaiting treatment could be as high as 200. This delay in receiving treatment tests the level of commitment of a person trying to give up drugs. The drugs treatment services themselves admit that the present delays are grossly excessive and unnecessary.
The effects of drug abuse are huge among the children of addicts. As many as one in eight children of drug-addicted women in Dublin may have lost a mother to AIDS or another drug-related condition. Unfortunately, drug-abusing mothers are usually in a relationship with an abusing male. Children also suffer disruption because their mothers are in hospital, prison or a residential drug treatment facility. Addicted mothers feel extremely isolated if they are HIV positive, because it has been shown that they fear being seen as unfit parents and are reluctant to seek help from official or voluntary bodies.
Of the 186 drug-using women who attended the Anna Livia project in Dublin in 1992, 142 were mothers and between them they had 280 children. To compound the difficulties of these families, it is extremely rare to find a woman drug user with a non drug-using family. The effects on the next generation — and in some cases the third generation — of children growing up in these circumstances is unbelievable. We are certainly storing up conditions for the future which we will not be able to cope with.
I would like to pay tribute to the voluntary and statutory agencies that are providing services. They do an excellent job but are under-resourced and under-funded. Increased funding for them would produce great results in terms of cutting the cost of crime to the State.
The central thrust of the document Government Strategy to Prevent Drug Misuse, of May 1991, was that there should be a reduction in supply and demand. As far as reduction in supply goes, there have been extremely well publicised drug seizures by both the Customs authorities and the Garda. Yet only small amounts are still involved in the seizures which are having only a marginal effect on the amount of drugs coming into the country. The Department of Justice must play its role in ensuring adequate funding and resources for the Garda and Customs authorities to carry out this work.
The document states that a reduction in demand for drugs can only be achieved through a three-tiered approach: education, the outreach treatment and the rehabilitation programmes. To date, our education programme does not seem to have addressed the problem. In a week when the Minister for Education has announced mandatory sex education, it is worthy of note that we do not see the same urgency to provide a specific module in schools to deal with substance and drug abuse. However, I would be optimistic and hopeful that we will see this fairly soon.
School programmes can help, but the statistics in some of these reports show that many drug users are early school leavers. Therefore, we must ensure that they are picked up through the outreach programme and treatment centres within communities. Whenever it is suggested that a detoxification or treatment centre should be opened in a community it tends to create a lot of problems. However, while the medical and health aspects of drug misuse should not be underrated, the economic and social problems affecting drug abusers are also of major importance. The arrival of the HIV and AIDS viruses has focused attention on the issues of harm minimisation and avoidance of the spread of AIDS, but some agencies feel this has diverted funding and attention away from drug prevention itself. They feel that the Department of Health has abandoned efforts to prevent drug abuse.
Clarification is needed concerning the relationship between drug prevention and harm minimisation, as well as the Department of Health's policy in this regard.
Acting Chairman
Thank you, Senator. I call on Senator Ann Ormonde to second the motion. She has eight minutes.
I welcome the Minister to the House. I had expected a female, however I got a male. I was not sure whether the Department of Health or the Department of Justice was responsible, but I am sure there is an overlap anyway. I wish the Minister well in his new portfolio.
I would like to second this fine motion by my colleague Senator McGennis. She has said it all, so I am just here to highlight some of the main points again. Anybody who believes that drugs are not freely available on the streets is kidding themselves. Not alone are we into soft drugs but it is now taken for granted that hard drugs are part and parcel of the routine of anybody who is hanging around unemployed. There is no doubt that drug dealers are touting their wares on the streets of the inner city. Much of our crime is drug related as addicts steal and commit assault in order to feed their habit.
I congratulate our previous Minister for Justice, Deputy Geoghegan-Quinn, who endeavoured to introduce legislation to try to combat the drug barons. When we were examining ways of dealing with the drug problem, I was conscious that we were very open to mainland Europe from where drugs could be quickly obtained. Because it is a huge problem we have to be careful how the legislation, which I believe has been put in place, is implemented. I would like to know the up to date position on that legislation, whether it is now beginning to be implemented and the effects it is having, or if it will have any effect.
I was anxious to contribute to this debate because I work north of the inner city and am involved in my other role of counselling young people who take drugs. I am very aware of the infrastructure that surrounds the drugs and the impact it is having on families and in their education of the young children. As Senator McGennis said, vulnerable young people from unemployed backgrounds seem to get caught. Young people requiring remedial attention who lack home support are touted by drug barons and before they realise it, they are highly involved and it is harder to take them away from it.
I will ask the Minister a few questions presently. There has to be a powerful response at international, national and local levels to combat this huge problem. If we do not confront it, we will find ourselves in an equivalent situation to any of the American states we read about from time to time.
Does the Minister consider the treatment facilities to be adequate? If not, what policies need to be considered? I realise it is early days yet but I want the Minister to be aware of the question. What is the status of drug education? Have we looked at areas of high risk and prevention? This overlaps with the Department of Education. At community level, resources are required to develop youth co-ordination and outreach centres.
The home/school links in schools represent an attempt to ascertain where drugs are coming from and if young people are getting involved. It is an attempt by the school to delve into the background and stall the development of the problem. Education programmes for parents are also required, particularly in highly developed and populated areas where the problem exists.
I ask again, are the treatment facilities adequate? Are the education facilities adequate? I do not believe they are. What research is done into the impact of this huge problem? I know from personal dealings with it that we are in a danger zone because of high employment, the vulnerability of young people and their need for money. Nothing will break that unless we break the cycle of unemployment and the causes of the problem of drug abuse. This requires co-ordination between the Department of Health, the Department of Justice and the Department of Education.
We must also involve the parents, the local community and employers. The problem will not go away through talking about it, or if the Minister talks about it. It will not go away if only the gardaí, who are doing a very good job, tackle it. It has to be a combined force involving everybody. In any area where parents got involved and led a campaign, the drugs were cleared out of that area. We must actively go about it in that sense. I ask the Minister to deliver a message to the other Departments to devise a combined policy and strategy to combat this problem.
I welcome the Minister to the House and I also welcome this motion. Under the Government strategy to prevent drug abuse, the health boards have been given the primary role in the development of preventative treatment and rehabilitation services in the field of drug misuse. In the Dublin, Wicklow and Kildare area the Eastern Health Board, of which I am a member, has been given that responsibility. Since 1992, the level of funding made available to the Eastern Health Board by the Department of Health has increased significantly to its current level of about £4 million per year. I thank the former Minister for Health for the funds he made available to overcome this problem during his term of office.
Preventative strategies aimed at breaking the cycle of substance misuse by young people, particularly from deprived areas, represent the main hope of preventing the spread of drug misuse for future generations. A joint approach is currently in place between the Department of Education, the Department of Health, local schools, community drug teams established by the health boards and the network of community addiction counsellors and staff from the AIDS drugs co-ordination units.
Preventative statistics aimed at giving young people and their parents more information on possible risks associated with illicit drug use and enabling young people to acquire the personal skill to say no when approached with a view to taking drugs and the provision of alternative amenities and activities to prevent boredom are also part of the preventative programme.
The exact number of injecting drug users in the greater Dublin area is unknown but estimates have been made at around 5,000. In 1991 the Health Research Board estimated that there were 2,000 drug takers in treatment and 64 per cent were injecting. The Health Research Board statistics included those who were receiving counselling only among those defined as in treatment.
Following the publication of the methadone treatment programme by the Department of Health in October 1994, health board addiction staff and the staff from the drug treatment centre have combined to establish a unified methadone treatment list. There are currently 860 people on the list, of whom 666 are receiving methadone treatment from the satellite clinics and 200 are receiving the methadone treatment from general practitioners.
The methadone treatment programmes are provided at two different levels. The first is a low dosage methadone for those whose behaviour is most chaotic. This is a first step to wean them away from drug addiction. The second is a higher does methadone maintenance for those considered to be sufficiently stable combined with monitoring for other drug use. The second stage gives them an opportunity to progress to detoxification and rehabilitation programmes. The detoxification programme and the provision of an adequate rehabilitation programme is the main goal for people who become stable and no longer wish to continue taking methadone and other drugs. It is a great consolation to people who work in the field when they can achieve that state and they can win over a drug addict to a normal way of life.
There are currently ten detoxification beds serving the greater Dublin area which are located in the Beaumont Hospital. Provision of treatment services for drug addicts is controversial and difficult because the immediate reaction of most communities is that while they agree in principle that everyone should get treatment, no community believes that the service should be provided on its own doorstep. I have experienced this problem in my own constituency and have, indeed, raised it here on the Adjournment. I am sure Senator Manning will concur with what I said.
Given the number of injecting drug users in the city it is apparent that there will have to be a considerable increase in the level of service provided. Methadone treatment services are currently available to 660 injecting drug users only. In order to develop the service further and to limit the spread of infection, especially HIV infection, to the community, the level of access to full specialised treatment for drug users must be increased. This must also be done with the co-operation of the local communities.
During 1994 the main expansion in the health boards' community based services has been in the areas of methadone treatment, needle exchange and welfare support. Currently there are 426 people who are receiving methadone treatment. An average of eight new applicants attend the clinics each month. The total monthly attendance for methadone treatment at clinics is approximately 7,000. The very high number of return attendants confirms the effectiveness of the methadone programme in stabilising the behaviour of this group and passing on to the next stage of treatment. Needle exchange continues to be the first weapon in the health services' fight against drug addiction. Attendance for needle exchange is a mechanism for keeping drug addicts in regular contact with the health services until they get a place on the methadone treatment programme. Methadone treatment has been in place for two years and has had a stabilising effect on a majority of the community. However, there is a need to establish more satellite clinics; there are only three in operation at present. If we are to have such treatment for drug addicts, which has proved to be successful, then these satellite clinics must be extended both north and south of the river.
At present a large number of addicts attend the small number of clinics and this causes problems in the local areas. As I said earlier, everyone wishes to see this problem treated, but no one wants to have it treated on their own doorstep. Nevertheless, the community has shown responsibility and it is prepared to accept that people who suffer from drug addiction in their own catchment areas can be treated there. I ask the Minister to provide the necessary funds to the health board and to encourage it to establish more clinics so that each catchment area in the city will have its own system where it can treat people who suffer from drug addiction and who live in the neighbourhood. I believe that is acceptable to the community.
I pay tribute to the staff who run these clinics. It is not a pleasant job to deal with drug addicts day after day, but clinical psychiatrists and doctors are committed to this work. As I said earlier, they get their reward when they wean people off heroine and other drugs.
I congratulate the Minister for Health, Deputy Noonan, on his new appointment and I welcome him to the House. I wish him well in a successful career as Minister because I know he will do a superb job. We will support him as much as we can in the type of work which needs to be done, particularly in the area we are discussing tonight.
Drug abuse in Dublin's inner city has now reached crisis and epidemic proportions and I have had two examples of this over the past month. One of my staff was mugged at 2 o'clock in the afternoon at the back gate of our office. After her handbag was stolen, two young children told her they had seen who did it. They mentioned the name of the person and said he lived on the third floor and that he was a drug addict —"junkie" was the word they used. The Garda also said they knew who did it because it is a daily occurrence in that area by that particular person. I suppose we have become used to it.
One thing which shocked me in recent times was when a school principal from an inner city school rang me the week after Christmas because he was wondering how he would deal with an 11 year old child whom he knew was using heroin. He eventually brought in the parents and in a soft way he brought his concerns to their attention. He was promptly threatened with legal action, etc. for saying such things about their child. They threatened him with the Garda, who arrived at the school. The matter was sorted out because the Garda pointed out to the principal teacher that the child's parents were one of the major middle range dealers in that housing estate. That is the type of thing which is happening in Dublin at present.
This is a problem we must all face. It is too easy to ask what the State, the Government or the Garda are doing about it. It is a problem which is rooted in society and it cannot be dealt with in the supply area. No attempts to stem the supply of drugs will solve the drugs problem. The only effective way to deal with it is, in effect, to try to stem the demand for drugs. It is a fact that every time state authorities anywhere in the world succeed in stopping the flow of a particular drug, then another drug takes its place. This was seen in the early 1980s with the development of the so-called designer drugs. When the authorities had finally stopped the flow of cocaine in large quantities from South America and heroin and other drugs from the Far East, the chemists produced the so-called designer drugs in their laboratories.
It has now reached a stage that primary school children on the streets of Dublin are making a tidy living out of selling what they call ecstasy tablets. They can carry four or five of these in a matchbox and sell five of them for £10, £15 or £20 each. They are doing the work of the drug godfathers and the people down the line. The people who are selling them to feed their own habit or as a business to make money for themselves are now using young children to do it. These drug landlords, barons and godfathers, who are running the scene, are almost uncatchable because they can use young children to carry and sell small amounts of drugs and if they are caught, there is little risk involved.
Heroin is now freely available all the time in the city centre. I do not understand why it has come back again. Perhaps it goes in cycles, but there was a time in the late 1980s and early 1990s when we got control of it. However, it is now moving back again.
The only strategy to deal with the drugs epidemic is an education strategy. I am not sure how this could be done, but education should be used in its broadest sense to teach children how to say no and how to resist peer pressure and to prepare them for the time when they will receive their first invitation to involve themselves in substance abuse of any description. One of the biggest problems we are facing and which teachers bring to my attention is the vocabulary of the street which changes so quickly. This week it might be "chasing the dragon", next week it might be "H" and the following week it might be whatever terminology they are using that week. They will never use the word "heroin". Often the children who are using it are not aware of the drug they are using at a young age and they become addicted long before they can cope and deal with the problem.
We must approach it in this way. As a society we must ask if we can intervene in the home or in the school. I am not saying it can be done in the schools because people can say we have a drugs education programme in schools in order to train children away from substance abuse. The idea is technically a good one, but who will teach the teachers? The vast majority of the teachers of Ireland will not be able to distinguish between heroin and talcum powder and long may that continue. The reality is that if we are to get people to deal with a particular issue, we must have experts in that area.
In the early 1980s the then Government introduced a task force on drugs abuse and there was a fair amount of follow-up at that time. I am not sure if this was the reason for it, but the use of heroin — and the statistics show this — dropped substantially in the late 1980s. Now it has gone back up again and we seem to have lost control of it. In the early 1980s, during the organisation of a European conference on drugs abuse for young trade unionists in Strasbourg, there was a push throughout Europe at that time from the different governments to control this. There was a lot of inter-agency work between Interpol, the Garda Síochána, constabularies and the different customs units. I do not know the customs status in this area at present because of open Europe, but it seems that the flow of drugs is more free than it ever was. Therefore, we must approach this in a twofold way. We must maintain a tight control of supply; in other words, the police and other authorities should have as much resources as they need to deal with the supply. We must deal with treatment, as outlined by the previous speaker. We also need to examine the demand, which can only be done through a community education programme.
Perhaps schools have something to offer there. In the late 1970s it was recommended by Europe that every school should have a teacher who was an expert on drug abuse and misuse. That is a fine aspiration, which would undoubtedly be helpful and useful, but what concerns me is that the average parent whose child is abusing drugs is often unaware of what is happening in the early stages. Similarly the average teacher would not know what was happening and might put it down to mood changes which happen as a result of normal teenage development. Much education needs to be done and there are many places where we can intervene. This is an extraordinarily tricky and wide-ranging area. I do not pretend to know all the answers and I await the Minister's statement with interest.
An Leas-Chathaoirleach
Before calling the Minister I join with other Members who have congratulated him on his appointment and welcome him back to the House.
Limerick East): Thank you. I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in this debate and to outline the Government policy for dealing with the scourge of drug abuse. I will first put the problem in an historical perspective.
Drug abuse appeared as a problem initially in this country in the mid 1960s when evidence began to emerge of amphetamine abuse. From there the problem began to develop and it intensified in the 1970s with cannabis and LSD. In the early 1980s there was a swing towards the use of opiates such as heroin. The developing pattern in terms of the type of drugs being misused was matched by a steady increase in the number of people, particularly young persons, known to be involved in drug taking.
The situation today is that while there is no accurate figure available for the number of drug misusers in Ireland, the indications are that it continues to be a problem. There is concern that the age at which people first begin to experiment with drugs is falling all the time. The most recent report from the Health Research Board indicated that in 1993 an estimated 2,573 people received treatment for drug abuse in the greater Dublin area. The comparable figure for 1992 was 2,240.
There were other interesting details in the report, such as: in 1993 the number of people presenting for treatment for the first time was 859, compared with 668 in 1992; as Senator McGennis said, 80 per cent of those who presented for treatment were unemployed; in 80 per cent of cases the drugs of abuse for which people sought treatment were opiates, that is, heroin and morphine sulphate tablets mainly; and six out of ten injected their primary drug of abuse, a fact which has serious implications for the spread of HIV in this country. I will refer to this later, and all Senators who contributed thus far have stressed this fact.
In so far as drugs of abuse are concerned, cannabis continues to be the major one. It is responsible for the greatest number of seizures by the Garda Síochána and customs authorities in recent years. There is also evidence of a marked increase in the abuse of ecstasy in the past three years, especially among teenagers. The concern here is that this may become a "gateway" drug which leads users on to abuse of other, more addictive drugs.
The major drugs of addiction are, as indicated in the Health Research Board report, heroin, morphine sulphate tablets and other opiates. These are the drugs which also give rise to the greatest concern because of the anti-social behaviour of those who misuse them, as well as the risk of the spread of HIV / AIDS which arises from sharing contaminated needles.
What I have attempted up to now is to paint a picture of the nature and extent of drug misuse. I will now deal with how the problem is being tackled. At Government level, a task force of Ministers of State at the Department of Health, Department of Education, Department of Justice, Department of Environment, Department of Foreign Affairs and Department of Labour was established in 1983 to examine the growing drug problem at that time. The task force was asked to pay particular attention to inner city areas which had experienced the brunt of drug misuse and its attendant problems.
The recommendations of the task force were submitted to Government in August 1983 and covered law enforcement, education, health, community/ youth development and research. Directly arising out of these recommendations a series of legislative, educational and service measures were introduced which provided a framework for dealing with both the supply and demand aspects of the drug abuse problem.
One of the key measures was the establishment of the National Co-ordinating Committee on Drug Abuse. The committee was established to advise the Government on issues regarding prevention and treatment of drug misuse. Following widespread consultation by the national co-ordinating committee with organisations and experts from the statutory and voluntary sectors, the Government strategy to prevent drug misuse was published in 1991, based on the recommendations of the national co-ordinating committee.
The strategy recognised that the problem of drug misuse is complex and difficult and one to which there are no easy or instant solutions. It therefore proposed a multi-disciplinary approach requiring action in the areas of supply reduction, demand reduction and increased access to treatment and rehabilitation programmes, together with co-ordination mechanisms geared towards their effective implementation. The strategy was accepted by the Government.
While it recognised the validity of a multiplicity of treatment and prevention programmes, the strategy recommended a drug-free lifestyle as the ideal. It also recognised, however, that various drug treatment options are required to deal with the needs of individual drug misusers. Such options would include methadone maintenance, needle exchange, detoxification and rehabilitation. They could be provided by statutory agencies working in close co-operation with the voluntary sector.
I was Minister for Justice when the committee was initiated in 1983. I am back speaking in the Seanad 11 years later on the same issue. This shows how problems do not go away but change their form and magnify, although the public has more understanding of the problem now. Nonetheless, as Senators said, the problem remains, has worsened and needs to be addressed on a continuing basis.
I will now deal with the demand reduction strategy, which is primarily the responsibility of the Minister for Health. Since 1991 the Department of Health has been overseeing the implementation of the recommendations in the strategy. The publication in 1992 of the report of the National AIDS Strategy Committee has also had a major impact on policy in this area, given the close connection between HIV/AIDS and intravenous drug abuse. At present 57 per cent of all known HIV positive cases in this country are drug abuse related and the emphasis has been on putting in place a comprehensive treatment network for drug misusers.
Since 1992 special funding has been allocated each year to allow for the development of extensive prevention and treatment services by the Eastern Health Board, which, together with the drug treatment centre in Pearse Street and voluntary organisations, provides such services in the Dublin area where the majority of drug misusers reside. Senator Doyle referred to some of the EHB's work in this area.
The ultimate objective of the treatment and rehabilitation programmes is a drug-free lifestyle. It is acknowledged, however, that this is not an option for many drug misusers, at least in the initial stages of treatment, and consequently it has been necessary to introduce methadone maintenance programmes in community based satellite clinics as a means of stabilising the behaviour of drug misusers and preventing the spread of HIV through sharing contaminated needles.
To date three satellite clinics have been established by the Eastern Health Board at Baggot Street, Ballyfermot and Amiens Street. The clinics provide a range of primary services for drug misusers, including methadone maintenance, needle exchange, urinalysis, HIV testing, counselling and free condoms. They provide services for drug misusers within a defined catchment area. At present a total of 420 drug misusers are on methadone maintenance programmes at the satellite clinics and a further 190 patients receive methadone at the drug treatment centre, Pearse Street.
Because the demand for services at the satellite clinics has been so great a waiting list has built up and I regard it as an urgent priority to provide services for those on the waiting list. As a first step the Eastern Health Board is arranging to open two of the satellite clinics for methadone maintenance in the afternoons. It is hoped this will be done early in February and that up to 50 patients can be accommodated at each clinic. In addition funding is being made available to the Eastern Health Board to enable it to open three additional clinics in Dublin in 1995 as part of the development of a comprehensive network of services.
In accordance with the policy of treating drug misusers in their own community to the greatest extent possible, general practitioners are being encouraged to take on responsibility for the treatment, including the provision of methadone, of drug misusers. At present about 240 patients are on methadone maintenance with general practitioners. I know that there is a reluctance on the part of some general practitioners to become involved in this area and this is perhaps understandable. I feel, however, that the Protocol for the prescribing of methadone, which was recently circulated, provides a framework of support for general practitioners willing to become involved. Any practitioner who was so willing would be asked to take on a stabilised patient from a satellite clinic and continue with their treatment. The services of the satellite clinic would continue to be available, where required, together with the right to refer the patient back should any problems develop. The discharge of patients in this way from the satellite clinics would free up spaces for patients on the waiting list who currently receive no services.
I am conscious of the need to continue with the development of services in line with the recommendations of the National Co-ordinating Committee and to this end the Eastern Health Board will be concentrating on certain aspects of its services to ensure that they meet the needs of those who seek them.
The availability of detoxification facilities is an essential part of the multifaceted approach which is required to deal with the problem of drug abuse. The ten bed unit in Beaumont Hospital has been under intense pressure and a waiting list has developed as a result. This problem will be addressed by the Eastern Health Board in the near future with the commissioning of a ten bed unit at Cherry Orchard Hospital. It is hoped to have the unit available in the spring of this year.
As I have already indicated, the Health Research Board noted in its report for 1993 that 80 per cent of those receiving treatment for drug abuse were unemployed. The National Co-ordinating Committee identified the availability of rehabilitation facilities as a key element in reintegrating drug misusers into society. The Eastern Health Board has been running a rehabilitation facility entitled the "Soilse" project which has achieved a high degree of success in equipping drug misusers with social and occupational skills. It is intended to extend this programme in 1995 so as to cater for more drug misusers.
Abuse of drugs is not, of course, confined to the greater Dublin area. There is abuse of drugs outside of Dublin but it is on a much lesser scale and there is no evidence to suggest that intravenous drug misuse constitutes a serious problem. Each health board, however, closely monitors the situation in order to be in a position to deal quickly with problems as they arise. The Southern Health Board, for example, recently submitted to my Department a five year strategy to deal with alcohol and drug abuse in its area. This is under consideration and will be discussed with the board shortly.
In keeping with the recommendations in the Government strategy, my Department places an emphasis on demand reduction through its education and prevention initiatives. These are wide ranging in nature and would include the substance abuse prevention programme in second level schools entitled "On My Own Two Feet" which was developed jointly with the Department of Education, a pilot project on parent education, on alcohol, drugs and family communication, the co-ordination of European Drug Prevention Week in 1994, the development of resource materials on alcohol and solvent abuse, the organisation of community based training programmes for health and education professionals and the production of educational materials for use by both the public and professionals working in the field.
I wish to move to the role of the Minister for Justice who has asked me to speak on her behalf and on behalf of her Department this evening. The National Co-ordinating Committee in its recommendations stressed the need for a co-ordinated approach to tackle the drug abuse area involving demand reduction, control of supply and illegal trafficking. I have already outlined developments on the demand reduction side. I would now like to deal with the question of supply and trafficking for which my colleague, the Minister for Justice, has primary responsibility and to set out in detail the approach taken by the Department of Justice and the gardaí.
An essential component of our approach is the rigorous and unrelenting enforcement of the drug laws. To this end, all Garda drug units are co-ordinated on a national basis through the National Drug Administration Office in Garda headquarters. In Dublin, drug units have been established in each of the city's five Garda divisions and their activities are co-ordinated through the Central Drug Squad based in Harcourt Square. This approach has enabled the Central Drugs Squad to monitor the activities of drug dealers all over the city and it has significantly enhanced the Garda intelligence gathering capability.
Monthly meetings are held between all drugs units at which recent seizures and trends are discussed and future operations are planned. This ensures maximum co-ordination and cohesion of the fight against drugs in the capital. The situation is continuously monitored and strategies adapted to meet changing circumstances. Last September, for instance, a major Garda initiative was launched against drug dealing in the north inner city. Searches were carried out in the flat complexes concerned and these resulted in arrests, the seizure of drugs and other evidence of drug dealing. This exercise was repeated over a number of weeks as dealers sought to change their tactics and their locations. The entire operation has been welcomed and supported by the law abiding residents of the area. Over a period of one month, ten persons were arrested and charged for drug related offences and drugs with a street value of £500,000 were seized.
I can assure the Seanad that the fight against drugs is not only being waged in the cities. Rural areas have not been untouched by drugs and the gardaí are responding accordingly. It is the experience of all of us in politics to hear various rumours emanating from rural areas about the prevalence of drugs and it is difficult at times to establish the truth of the rumours. Senators will know what I am talking about in certain rural constituencies. In this regard, I am informed by the Garda authorities that the problem of drug misuse in rural areas is primarily one of cannabis resin although some areas — mainly Border areas — have encountered a problem with ecstasy tablets from time to time. I can assure the Seanad that the prevention and detection of drug related offences in rural areas, as elsewhere in the State, is treated with the highest priority by the Garda authorities.
I am aware that there has been some public concern about the level of co-ordination of the various law enforcement agencies in the fight against drugs. In this regard, a senior official of the Department of Justice has completed a report on important aspects of law enforcement in relation to the drugs problem here. The Minister for Justice is now considering this report and she will prepare proposals for Government based on the report. The main task of the report is to identify the best arrangements for achieving a cohesive and co-ordinated response to the drug trafficking problem by the existing law enforcement agencies. The proposals will be mainly concerned with this aspect.
The report also examines the legal powers of members of the law enforcement agencies and the need for legislative changes to assist the law enforcement response. Senator Ormonde asked specifically about the response of the gardaí and I will deal with it here. The contribution in the health and education areas in developing strategies to reduce demand for drugs is also considered. The proposals to be prepared for Government will cover all these aspects.
An important part of the fight against drugs is to target the ill-gotten gains of drug dealers and traffickers. It is not enough to harass and hound the street corner pusher. Those who sit back and profit from this evil trade must also be brought to account. The Criminal Justice Act, 1994, contains provisions for the confiscation of the proceeds of crime and deals with money laundering by criminals, including drug traffickers. This Act represents a major initiative against the drug menace in this country. Specifically, the Act provides for (a) the seizure and confiscation of the proceeds of drug trafficking and other serious offences; (b) the creation of an offence of money laundering and the imposition of obligations on financial institutions to prevent and assist in the detection of money laundering and (c) measures to give effect to a number of international instruments on drug trafficking, money laundering and mutual assistance internationally in criminal matters.
Senator Ormonde asked how effective is this legislation. It is too early to say yet because it has not been in force for long enough to monitor it in a serious way. However, it was the consensus in the Dáil and the Seanad that it would be effective legislation and that in this, as in many other areas of crime, the godfathers seem to relax in luxury while the pushers and the users face the cutting edge of the law. This measure is particularly directed at those behind the scenes who are the major problem and who are also the major beneficiaries.
There are also international aspects of law enforcement which are worth noting. Intelligence based strategies are central in combating the importation of drugs and the closest international co-operation is an essential prerequisite if such strategies are to prove effective. The implications for policing which arose from the abolition of customs control and immigration control on 1 January 1993 were examined in detail. EC Ministers, in agreeing to set up the Trevi Group in 1975, affirmed their common will to strengthen co-operation in the fight against organised international crime and terrorism. Under the Irish Presidency, Trevi Ministers at their meeting in Dublin in June 1990, agreed a programme of action which sets out measures to be taken by member states to combat terrorism and organised crime, including drug trafficking.
In accordance with this programme, member states were requested to study the need for a European drugs intelligence unit. A special Trevi sub-group examined this matter, and at its meeting held in December 1991, the European Council decided that a Europol Drugs Unit should be established as soon as possible to act as a centralised exchange and co-ordination unit, especially for drug related information between member states. The Europol Drugs Unit became operational on 31 January 1994 and it is expected that the unit, which has a liaison officer from the Garda, will be of great practical benefit in combating the international trafficking of drugs. My Department, through its representation on international bodies, such as the Pompidou Group of the Council of Europe and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, keeps in touch with the developments at international level also.
In conclusion, I ask the House to accept that the Government takes in a most serious way its responsibilities in tackling drug abuse and I assure Members that it will continue to implement policy as recommended by the National Co-ordinating Committee in a determined and sustained manner.
There is, however, no easy solution. Abroad, we have seen a wide range of measures adopted to confront the problem. Yet the drugs problem remains firmly rooted. With the opening of borders under the European Union arrangements for the completion of the Internal Market, we have to remain vigilant about the trafficking of illicit drugs and, towards this end, we are developing the structures referred to in order to respond to the situation as it evolves and to prevent the supply of illicit drugs to the Irish market.
Demand reduction through educational, treatment and rehabilitation programmes and services will continue to be developed, and the indications from the Eastern Health Board services are that there is a willingness among drug misusers to seek and avail of treatment for their addiction. There is no room for complacency, however, and much remains to be done. It is my priority to ensure that the health boards, and especially the Eastern Health Board, have the resources available to enable them to implement a comprehensive range of treatment and rehabilitation services designed to reduce the demand for illicit drugs. In addition, the health promotion unit of my Department will continue to work with the Department of Education, the health boards and community groups to inform and educate the public, and especially young people, about the dangers of illicit drug use.
I thank the Senators who have contributed to this debate and to those who will contribute later this evening. With regard to anything Senators say, I will have officials of my Department examine the record to see if something new comes up of which they are not aware, or if a suggestion is made which is validly based — and I am sure many suggestions will be made which are validly based — I can also assure Senators that their views will be taken into account in the further development of policy.
I welcome the Minister to the House and wish him well in the portfolio he has attained. The Minister will have a hard act to follow, but I have no doubt he is well able to do so. I congratulate Senator McGennis also for bringing the issue of drugs abuse in this country onto the floor of the House this evening. It is an issue which she has raised time and again in the House, and I welcome the opportunity to speak on it.
Drug abuse in society at present is not merely confined to Dublin or Cork. It is not only an urban problem; it is also a rural problem and affects every large and small town.
There are drugs to be found everywhere. My own mind goes back a number of years and the concerns a friend of mine had for his son who had been working in Dublin. He was addicted to heroin, had received treatment in Dublin and went home for a holiday. When he was well enough to go back to his work in Dublin his father decided to drive him to Dublin. On the way they stopped at a cafe to get something to eat and the young lad went out to the toilet. The father thought he had been gone for quite a while and he went out see where he was and found him slumped in the corner of a toilet. He died that evening from an overdose of heroin. To this day the father does not know if he met somebody there or if he had the drug on him, but even after the treatment and help he had received, he overdosed himself, or so it appears, and killed himself on his first movement back to Dublin.
There are so many sad cases of what drugs are doing to families and society that it is an issue which we cannot close our eyes to. If one goes to a hospital at the weekend, or visits a casualty ward or psychiatric ward, it becomes apparent that the number of people attending with drug problems is massive. The cost, not only to society, to health boards and the Department, but also to parents is phenomenal.
The authorities — the Garda, customs and hospital authorities who are facing up to this issue — must be complimented for the work they are doing. When one sees the number of treatment facilities which are available within the health boards, the Department and health boards must be complimented because there is much counselling undertaken for people who have addiction problems, not only with respect to drugs, but also to alcohol, smoking, gambling machines and so on. These are matters which are being dealt with by the excellent counsellors and staff in our health boards.
There are also residential programmes available, but that is one of the areas where there is not enough help. In my own area of Sligo and Letterkenny, there are excellent prevention and treatment programmes, but there are no real residential areas available which means that if people do not wish to go into hospital they have nowhere else to go. In this respect, many people in Donegal go to Derry, to the Nortlands Centre, which deals with many of the problems they may have.
Schools have a major role to play. The life skills programme was an excellent programme in which education was the way forward. It is still the way forward and it is one at which we should keep working. However, parents must be educated about the drugs scene. Parents should look at themselves. People going home tonight should note the number of pills in their houses, where children are being doped if they do not sleep. It does not cost a pound of thought to throw them a tablet or a spoonful of medicine to quieten them. The first measure of support people in grief receive is a tablet or a vallium, which will probably end up doing more harm than good.
There is a lot of unnecessary advice available. There is a great deal of unnecessary medicine lying around houses; sometimes people do not even bother to lock it up and then we ask ourselves how did a young kid who overdosed get the drugs. It may well have been the parents' fault. We must also consider doctor's prescriptions. I have gone into houses, through my work within the psychiatric service, and have seen tin boxes and biscuit tins full of tablets — pills of all sizes and shapes, and if a person has a problem it is easy enough to get something when they need it.
If we look at society to ascertain who is taking drugs we find it is mostly young people between the ages of 15 and 35 years. It appears that drugs are easily obtained at discos, dances, parties, etc. These appear to be the regular areas for drug distribution. For example, the figures for the Pearse Street treatment centre in Dublin illustrate that over the last number of years approximately 1,500 people have been treated per year in this centre alone. There is a major problem.
In areas like Donegal drugs are also easily obtained, many of them from across the Border. It is a case of the gardaí being vigilant, and in this respect I pay tribute to the former Minister for Justice, Deputy Geoghegan-Quinn, for the work she undertook by giving extra support to the gardaí and customs in the Donegal area.
The criminal justice legislation in respect of the confiscation of the proceeds from drugs was another area which was welcomed, and the legislation can only be good for society. Help has been provided to the Garda and the customs authorities with regard to the catching and arresting of people, and many have ended up in jail, where they deserve to be. As long as we keep tackling this problem we will get somewhere.
It is seemingly difficult for parents to recognise early drug taking. Very few parents realise that when their children are staying out late at night there may well be a problem. They never seem to question why new friends have been made or from where they have come. The children may have lost interest in sports, they no longer have hobbies, their health deteriorates and so does their school work. They do not appear to realise what is happening to their children until it is far too late.
Where do we go from here? At present, given the treatments that are available, people will generally go to their GP or their drug treatment unit where there is always professional help available. The Revenue Commissioners and the Customs authorities are available and willing to educate people as to what should be done but the message does not appear to be getting through. The Government strategy to prevent drug misuse is a massive document but at the same time the Garda, the customs and the health services are seemingly not really working together.
The Department should seriously look at setting up a drugs advisory service. In an area such as where I come from, Donegal, we should examine the needs there for intervention, draw up a plan for the services and then come up with clear strategies in relation to it. There are objectives in setting up the services. First, define the services that exist in each area, define the needs for substance misuse services in the area, both the current need and the anticipated future need on the basis of what we have seen over the last number of years, and recommend aims and objectives for the immediate future. They should also recommend future service developments over the next five years if possible.
A local assessment of need is essential. In order to assess the need it is necessary to research the scale of problematic drug use within the area and evaluate the demand for drug related services. Once these findings are evaluated a report could be prepared and presented recommending a drugs advisory service appropriate to the needs of the community. The service would exist to provide a point of contact and information in relation to drugs services for clients' professionals, relatives and friends. That kind of service is missing at the moment.
We could provide an indirect service to clients through consultation, training and supervision, facilitate the early identification of drug problems and monitor the service's effectiveness in achieving this. The service should be based in the community if that is the road we are going to go down. Funding for the service should be available from the health boards and from the Department. Telephone contacts, up to date publicity and information is really important. General practitioners in particular should be involved in the provision of a consultation service for professionals to provide a specialist information service in relation to drugs and to offer drug education. The police force has to be involved. It is a road we should go down. We should provide a drugs advisory service at present because it is badly needed and at the moment the services do not seem to be co-ordinated.
I thought the motion put down would be more associated with the Department of Justice but I am confident that the Minister present will inform those Ministers I consider appropriate to the motion of my views.
The first thing we have to acknowledge — it has already been mentioned — is that drug abuse in Ireland has reached epidemic proportions. The statistics available from the health boards throughout the country show only the tip of the iceberg. You can go to any major town or indeed the larger cities in Ireland on a Saturday night and attend what we call a "rave" and see 200 or 300 people drinking glasses of water and taking ecstasy tablets. These are not frightening figments of the imagination. These are facts and this is happening in every large town in this country today. It is time we acknowledged that we have an epidemic problem in Ireland and that we use all the resources of the State available to us to ensure that we counteract it.
We called for a debate in the Seanad on numerous occasions over the last number of years to highlight the issues and I acknowledge the work of the last Minister for Justice in bringing forward the Criminal Justice (No. 3) Bill, 1993. However, it is not good enough to bring forward a Bill without supporting it and providing the necessary means to implement it. The Garda are totally under resourced in this area. They themselves would be the first to admit that they do not have the back up, the manpower or indeed the expertise to root out this problem. There are more gardaí on a Saturday night checking people on a country cross roads for drink driving than there are checking night-clubs, bars and people who are dealing in drugs.
We do not face up to the fact that we have a problem in this country, but we also have an advantage. We have not gone as far down the road as our European friends and it is time that we learned from their mistakes. They did not enforce the laws rapidly enough. We have another great advantage which we should use to eliminate this problem, that is the fact that we are an island nation. Every effort should be made to ensure that drug trafficking is eliminated in this country. A number of years ago State solicitor Mr. Barry Galvin in Cork said that drug importation was at epidemic proportions in the Cork area and he was laughed at by the Government and the Garda. Seizures last year along the west coast of Cork indicate that he was right.
We have to take our head out of the sand and acknowledge that we have a problem. The Garda have to be funded and more manpower must be brought in. The fact that we now have peace in Northern Ireland should mean that resources heretofore used in subversive surveillance and involved in policing the criminal element should now be transferred to deal with the problem of drug abuse. I also see a role for the Army in this. We have a very long coastline and the Navy is just not able to provide the surveillance that is required to ensure that no drug trafficking occurs on our shores. The Army will have to be used in a positive way in patrolling our coastline. They would only be required as a deterrent. Their deployment would allow customs more time for detection and allow the Garda more time to implement the legislation that is already in place. We depend too much on the Garda alone for this. They have a large personnel, about 10,000 highly trained people. I see no reason why they cannot be put on our shorelines to deter the importation of drugs.
We now have a drug culture in Ireland among the young people and when I speak about young people I speak about children from 12 years of age. Every Saturday night you will see people quite openly drinking water as a means to get a buzz after using an ecstasy tablet. It is quite blatantly being done in every night-club in the city. That is something that the Garda cannot come to grips with because they just do not have the available surveillance and manpower. As well as that, we have to educate people. The young people today see a glossy image of the drug culture. I remember years ago in "Miami Vice" Crockett and Tubbs and other characters would kick in the doors of drug dealers. The programme showed fancy night-clubs and yachts, boats and big cars and it has conjured up an image that drugs are attractive, drugs are a means of escapism. We have to educate people.
I welcome the Minister for Education's announcement on sex education programmes in schools. I genuinely believe that we will have to follow along the same lines in regard to drug abuse. The same viewpoints that have been expressed by teachers in regard to sex education will have to be expressed in regard to the drugs situation as well, because there is no point in setting up programmes for treatment when drug abuse could be prevented. The big issue here is that we must put more resources into prevention. I remember some years ago I spoke in a Macra na Feirme debate and I told people that I knew that several members of my class had indulged in the taking of drugs. That was seven or eight years ago. People refused to believe that drug abuse was that prevalent in our society.
I can assure Members that today, right throughout the State, there are people who think that drugs are associated with inner city areas, deprived areas, high unemployment areas. Drug abuse occurs right across the social spectrum. On the issue of the relationship between unemployment and drug abuse, there is no doubt about it, Christy Moore's song sums it up, vigilantes had to be set up. I think the group was called Combined Parents Against Drug Pushers. They set themselves up and called to drug pushers' doors and told the drug pushers that if they would not quit, they would have to move. Unfortunately, the State put these people, who were trying to save their children from drug abuse, in jail. Those people ended up in jail, because they were the easy option.
We must explain right from the top that the pushers on the street are innocent victims just as much as drug abusers. The criminal justice legislation will have to be implemented in full. We have the legislation but no resources to implement it. I am pleading with the Minister to give the Garda the authority, the power and the resources to deal with this problem, to release them from the duties they are at present carrying out. We could have the customs, the Navy and the Army patrolling our coastlines to ensure that there is no importation of drugs and allow the Garda to implement the full rigours of the law.
We speak about supply and demand. While there is a demand of such magnitude, there will be an even greater supply. I am confident that the amount of drugs which have been seized by the Gardaí are a small proportion of what is coming into this country. An ecstasy tablet cost £25 in Cork until last April. One can now buy one openly on the street for £12.50. This shows that we are losing the battle against the importation of illegal drugs. There is an over-supply at present and that is why they are so available to young people.
We must realise that we have a drug problem and a drug culture and that education and the enforcement of the full rigours of the law on those importing drugs will go a long way to discouraging and ensuring that they are not freely available to young people and that it is not attractive for young people to use them. I ask the Minister to convery that to the Minister for Justice because I had hoped she would be here today so that I could suggest that to her.
I welcome the Minister to the House. The Gardaí and the Naval Service must be complimented for the tremendous and successful effort they have made in discovering the importation of drugs on the south-west coast in recent years. It amazes me to hear people say that drugs are for sale and the price being paid for them. What is being done about identifying those supplying them? Surely some effort, or a better effort, should be made in that regard? I listened to Senator Kelleher's good contribution.
Sometimes names are mentioned in towns. I spoke out recently and said that not enough was being done on this question. I believe there is a little discrimination here because names of well heeled people involved in the sale of drugs are being mentioned. If they are involved, the law must be enforced against them. We saw the impact the Road Traffic Act had because of the penalties which were being imposed. I do not believe the penalties are severe enough in this area. This is a serious problem in towns, villages and now rural areas.
I compliment the Gardaí because there was a strategy to deal with this. I wonder whether gardaí in small towns are trained to deal with this problem. That is something the Minister might take on board. Recently I had experience of a young person who set up his own business as a haulier and he was doing well until he foolishly became involved with some dealers who asked him to bring in drugs. I will not mention the area he is from but he is now behind bars, his business is gone and his family is devastated. At least now we know this strategy is having an impact and people are being apprehended.
I share the concern expressed in this motion that the spiralling levels of drug and substance abuse in its widest sense affect every community in the country, either directly or through related problems such as crime, vandalism, truancy or absenteeism. The answer to the motion before the House is largely contained in A Government of Renewal which is committed to establishing a community drugs team incorporating counselling, medical treatment and rehabilitative support services.
The Democratic Left has consistently argued for a preventative rather than a fire brigade approach to the problem of drug abuse and drug related crime. In order to be effective, preventative measures must take place at the lowest possible level. In this regard, I welcome the Government's community based approach which is reflected not only in the community drugs team, but also in the commitment to the extension of community policing. The community is just one half of the equation, the other is jobs or, more accurately, the absence of jobs. As pointed out by other speakers, 80 per cent of drug users seen at centres were unemployed. That is a sad state of affairs. The record shows that quite clearly. Young people are vulnerable and it is sad that they have access to drugs.
Figures provide further evidence of the incontrovertible link between unemployment, poverty and drug abuse. Figures indicating ever increasing levels of crime, substance abuse and family breakdown are simply the cold statistics of social disintegration. That disintegration has its roots in a system which in recent years has been prepared to tolerate nearly 300,000 on the live register and many more existing on the economic margins.
It is no coincidence that the majority of drug users are drawn from the ranks of the unemployed and those unqualified. It is not a coincidence that 35 per cent of respondents in a recent survey cited curiosity, boredom or unemployment as reasons for taking drugs. As a society we have consigned an entire generation to idleness. Many of those who have been denied the opportunity to work have sought refuge in drugs. The proliferation in recent years of help lines and counselling services merely serves to mask the central problems of unemployment, poverty and disadvantage.
Those living in Cork, Limerick and Dublin who are plagued by both drugs and drug related crime would be hard pressed to find a telephone box which has not been vandalised to call one of these hot lines. We must look at areas where we have created ghettos with large numbers of unemployed people.
Only those wearing political blinkers can now deny that economic deprivation and drug abuse are two sides of the same coin. It is up to the Government to introduce and follow through on a package of measures aimed not only at sustainable job creation but also at raising the incomes of those without jobs by fully integrating the tax and social welfare systems and eliminating the poverty traps which have been a feature of recent years.
Fire brigade measures, such as detoxification and rehabilitative services, are undoubtedly necessary in the short term but in the long term the symptoms of social disintegration will continue to hit the headlines until its root causes, unemployment, poverty and disadvantage, are addressed. The Government has already outlined many of its policies in this regard. We now want these policies to be implemented.
I welcome the Minister to the House and congratulate him on his reappointment.
I thank Senator McGennis for raising this important subject this evening. We all agree that the need for concerted action against the growing threat of drug misuse is now widely recognised not only in Ireland but in the international community. The 1990s have been designated the United Nations decade against drug abuse. As other Senators outlined, as well as suffering and death among drug addicts, drug abuse leads to increased levels of crime throughout society.
It was estimated in 1992 that there were 40 million drug addicts worldwide, which is a huge figure. Research has shown that there is no single cause of drug misuse or no one type of person who is likely to get involved in drug abuse. Throughout the world drug abusers tend to be young people. I was surprised to read that the majority of notified addicts are between 25 and 35 years of age. I would have thought they would be older. An increasing proportion are younger but maybe they do not become notified addicts until they are older.
The greatest fear for any parent must be that their child might become involved in drugs. Any mother or father would feel that whatever else their child might become involved in or might do, at least they can reach them and help them. However, once a child becomes a drug addict, one feels that they are beyond one's reach and that there is very little one can do to help them. It must be a nightmare for any family to have a child involved with drugs.
We know that drugs are available, as many Senators outlined, in our larger cities. However, they are also available in towns and rural areas. The Minister acknowledged that and said that the Garda were endeavouring to tackle the problem in rural areas. Denying that the problem exists does nothing to help it and awareness is the first step in tackling it.
I went to a lecture for parents in my children's school and I was absolutely horrified. It was given by a member of the drugs squad. He told us about the amount of drug abuse among young children and how freely available drugs are throughout the country. It is absolutely frightening. He showed us the various drugs, such as little transfers, which are taken. Many parents and teachers find it extremely difficult to realise that children are on drugs.
Drug addiction is found at all levels of society. The ready availability of drugs, personality defects, poor home background, pressure from friends, poor relationships and lack of self-esteem, boredom and unemployment have all been found as factors which lead to drug abuse. I welcome what the Minister said here about how the Government must direct its policy at the following main areas: education and prevention, which I think is number one; treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts; co-operation with other countries in order to reduce supply from abroad; effective Customs and Garda enforcement and effective deterrents and domestic controls.
As many Senators said, education is most important. Publicity regarding prevention must be aimed mainly at young people. It should be carried out in schools and by the local health boards. The dangers of children getting involved in drugs and the risk of AIDS must be highlighted to them. Efforts to reduce the demand for drugs must be given a high priority. Discouraging those who are not using drugs from so doing, as well as helping existing abusers to kick the habit, is most important.
I welcome what the Minister said about how the Departments of Health, Education and Employment and Enterprise and the Garda must all be involved in the fight against drugs. I was pleased to read in last Saturday's Irish Independent that the Minister for Justice, Deputy Owen, is bringing a plan before the Government shortly for the setting up of a super anti drugs umbrella group to spearhead the drive against big time traffickers, with financial aid from the European Union.
Action to reduce demand for drugs includes health education aimed at the public, particularly young people. We need an education and information campaign to discourage drug abuse. It is vital that our young people are aware of the harmful effects of drugs and are given the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to resist the pressure which is on them to take drugs. Schools and colleges must be encouraged to provide drug awareness education as part of their curriculum. The dangers of heroin, the dangers of contracting and spreading HIV and AIDS through sharing injections and the risk of overdosing must be explained to young people. We need publicity aimed primarily at young people and we have to use the media which young people use — television, radio, cinema and so on.
In England and Wales the national curriculum now requires all primary and secondary teachers to educate pupils about the harmful effects of drug abuse. Similar steps have been taken in Northern Ireland. We need a similar policy here. The Minister outlined a pilot project entitled "On My Own Two Feet" which is being piloted by the Department of Health in conjunction with the Department of Education. Is it proposed to extend that to all schools?
In addition to education, the Government must give a commitment to improving and expanding drug treatment and rehabilitation centres. I welcome the Minister's statement that the two satellite centres are going to open in the afternoons and that he has plans to open a further three in 1995 and a ten bed unit in Cherry Orchard Hospital. All of these must be welcomed as we have an estimated 7,000 heroin addicts in Dublin.
The Minister stated that cannabis is the main problem in rural areas and that drug abusers in these areas do not tend to use intravenous drugs. However, once children become involved with drugs it can lead on to harder drugs. Being aware of the potential dangers and difficulties and trying to prevent them is of major importance.
Drug addiction is more than a physical and psychological problem. Last September I read an article in The Irish Times where Fr. Cassin, who was involved in the Merchant's Quay programme which helps and advises drug addicts, explained how an addict would think. He said that an addict would say “Now that I have given up injecting and I am not robbing or borrowing, I am bored out of my tree” and that with most addicts their whole lives are concentrated on getting the money to get their fix. That uses up a huge amount of their energy and time and they need other avenues to engage their creativity. We have to follow on and provide training and other supports for them rather then leaving them to flounder when they come off the drug and are perhaps on methadone treatment.
The spread of AIDS has increased our awareness of drugs. Drug abusers are a major risk group for infection with HIV and AIDS through sharing needles, syringes and other injecting equipment. As those infected can pass it on to other people, including their partners, and as mothers can pass it on to unborn children, it is essential that action be taken to curb the spread of the virus among drug users. The risk of AIDS has made it even more urgent to reduce both the demand for and the supply of drugs and it must reinforce the Government's determination to tackle the problems.
Is the Minister satisfied that the Criminal Justice Act, 1994, is strong enough to enable the Garda to tackle the proceeds of drugs crimes? With regard to the initiative for GPs to get involved in prescribing methadone tablets, I know that the Protocol was issued last October or November but how successful has that been? Are all GPs aware of this and what has been the response? The Minister said that some of them were reluctant to get involved but I would like to know how successful it has been.
I welcome the debate and congratulate Senator McGennis on bringing this very important issue before the House and giving us an opportunity to comment on it. I also welcome the Minister of State and congratulate the Minister for Health who outlined to us the strategy and policies which the Government has initiated to control and combat this growing problem.
Findings show that not alone is there a serious problem of drug abuse in urban areas but that drugs are also readily available in rural areas. The Minister referred to this during the course of his speech. The research to which I will refer during the course of my presentation was conducted by the National Youth Council of Ireland in October 1994. This research clearly kills the myth that the drugs problem is confined to urban areas. It also shows that the popular myth that drug abuse is more a working class problem is just a myth — drugs do not recognise class barriers. The common bond between the young people interviewed in the survey was that most could get their hands on some drugs if they wanted to. It did not matter where they lived, who they were or where they went to school.
Young people today acquire information about drugs as they grow up. Some learn about drugs in school in a formal setting, some from talking to parents and some through the media. Drugs are prevalent, available and, in some cases, socially acceptable. Young people know quite a lot about drugs — how available they are, where they are available — and usually have an idea about the cost and the side effects of individual substances. They have a broad idea of the dangers of taking drugs, outside of the health problems to which I have already referred. Young people consider cigarettes and alcohol to be in a very different category to illegal drugs. Most young people do not consider cigarettes and alcohol as drugs, mainly because they are socially acceptable and easily available. Initially, some people experiment with drugs from curiosity, particularly those who experiment with solvents, for example, sniffing glue, gases and petrol. Others just do it for fun. During the course of the survey, one person interviewed said: "I just do it for the craic. I took them out of curiosity at first and because I was bored. Now I take them because I like the feeling they give me."
Contrary to popular belief, young people are not being offered drugs by shady looking characters who hang around street corners. They are far more likely to be offered drugs by friends and acquaintances. The drug ecstasy has received the most media coverage. It is usually produced in back street laboratories by amateur chemists. The tablet contains anything from heroin to toilet cleaner. Ecstasy is no longer the most popular drug. Heroin has picked up in popularity. Young people start off by smoking it and when the habit becomes too much for them to afford, they start injecting it. One person interviewed during the National Youth Council of Ireland survey said that if one is smoking heroin, it can cost up to £100 a day. If they start injecting it, it comes down to approximately £40 a day. The price of heroin on the streets in 1994 dropped dramatically. A year before the price was around £40 for a quarter ounce. It is now down to £20 a quarter ounce. Young people are, therefore, finding heroin more accessible because it is cheaper.
According to young people interviewed, school is a major drug supply point for many. They say that parents and the Garda Síochána are not usually aware that drugs are so easily available. To put the matter in context, it was clear from the survey that the overwhelming majority, 78 per cent of young people questioned, did not use drugs. However, bear in mind that this leaves 22 per cent, quite a high level, who used drugs. When those who did not use drugs were asked whether they would consider experimenting, almost one third answered that they would, while two thirds replied that they would not consider experimenting with drugs. It is interesting to note that while almost 60 per cent of people interviewed had been offered drugs, only 12 per cent actually took drugs.
The young people were also questioned as to why, in their opinion, young persons became involved with drugs. A wide range of opinions were received. The overwhelming majority believed that peer pressure is the principle reason why young people become involved with drugs. This fact in itself raises questions which must be addressed if society is to effectively increase awareness among young people about drugs. It is also interesting to note that the frequency of the opinion that young people become involved in drugs from a sense of curiosity or a desire to experiment is quite high.
The participants in the survey to which I refer were questioned as to whether they felt that young people were aware of the dangers of drug abuse. The figures largely indicate that the respondents believed that young people were unaware of the dangers of drug misuse and also that there is insufficient information available to young people about drugs. The young people were questioned as to whom they would go to for information or help if they had a problem with drugs. A considerable number of young people felt they could confide in a wide range of people when it came to getting information about drugs and if they had a problem relating to drugs. This is obvious from the high frequency of replies that mentioned doctors, teachers, friends or youth workers. However, the fact that 12 per cent admitted in the survey that they did not know where to go for information is worrying.
I thank the National Youth Council of Ireland. I contacted them today for this research, which is not widely publicised. It is most interesting to have it on the record of the House and available to both the Departments of Health and Justice.
The picture painted by Senator Neville, the Minister and others is of a most depressing pattern in our society and not just in Ireland. My observations will not be confined to the impact of this contamination on society in Ireland, but rather worldwide. The growth of this infestation is quite frightening. For this reason, it is time, not just for Ireland but for the universal family of nations, to take a fresh approach to this issue.
Instead of reacting and trying to contain, prevent and police, we should take a new approach which ensures that the harvesting and supply of and profiteering from drugs will not be as it is now, exclusively in the hands of the criminal elements from start to finish. Perhaps because the fresh approach I suggest might be seen as somewhat risky and in some ways rather strange coming from me, I wish to make it clear that the best and perhaps the only guarantee to society is through families that have values, example to pass on to children, a sense of responsibility and a sense of reminding them of the difference between happiness and misery. This is the best guarantee, but unfortunately there are families or units which do not have that sense of purpose. There are some underprivileged in our society where the children do not get that direction. However, as Senator Neville pointed out, even those who come from secure homes are now at risk and this is why I wish to propound a new theme.
As we turn into the new millennium, we are effectively looking at a drugs contaminated society worldwide. We heard the evidence today and it is getting worse. We can continue talking about it and trying to control it, but there is criminal exploitation from start to finish from those who sow, harvest and supply in places such as Colombia and many others to the supply lines across the world through Galicia in Spain and on through Europe. Economies are controlled and undermined. States are controlled and undermined. Then we try to react to it in an inadequate way. The people who organise this criminality are highly organised and ruthless, operating where they want, which is outside the law. They are past masters at operating outside the law. We see the results with old people attacked in their homes by people craving a fix, young people contaminated and families undermined. In some cases, such as Colombia, it is a characteristic feature of the economy. They are, in truth, drug controlled and contaminated economies.
The next stage is to control the supply lines to the major demand centres, which are, in particular, the congested and impoverished slums of the major cities. I take the point that it is not now confined to the major cities, nor to those who are economically deprived; but they are the main targets and it spreads from there. It corrupts everything in its path and contaminates even police forces as it makes its way from the supplier to the pitiful addict. By controlling the supply, while at the same time ensuring ever increasing demand, these criminal drug barons, these contaminators of society, maintain the high price levels and the high profits and they live at a level which depends on the misery of others. We complain and we try to react.
Ireland cannot do this on its own, but it is time we recognised that the strategy of prevention rather than cure has failed. The police are taking every action they can and still the problem grows. Policing alone will not solve the problem. Criminal control of all stages, right down to the ultimate misery of the pitiable and pitiful drug addict, is what we are looking at. Are we going to break that control? Will we and other states say that we are going to take some responsibility for regulating the supply to the pitiable and pitiful addicts? It will be a matter of health rather than inadequate police reaction — I do not blame our police force; it does not matter how much they do, they cannot cope.
Drug addicts will perpetrate the most savage and irrational acts to get what they require to feed their craving habit. We talk about the crime virus in our society which is a feature of our debates in recent years in Ireland and in other countries. A friend of mine who served on a Californian drugs advisory board for a long time told me that he took the view that we must increase law enforcement measures to put them down and enforce the extra penalties, and I have supported that view in the House. He reached the conclusion, and any research I have done since brings me to the conclusion, that it suits the criminal drug barons to operate outside the law. In this way they control and corrupt everything and everyone.
In the days of the prohibition of alcohol we saw the control by the Mafia in Chicago and elsewhere because it was outside the law. We see places, as I have mentioned, that are literally infested — Colombia, Galicia and now, unfortunately, some of our own communities. It suits them so much to operate outside the law that sometimes they make anonymous subscriptions to those in the American legislatures in certain states who come out most hard line in treating them as criminals. They know that the more that is said the safer they are in the prohibition shelter.
For that reason, when we see what has happened, it is time that the states of Europe got together in a more realistic way. We all have problems of addicts who need drugs. We have addicts who crave drugs. I welcome the start made in the South Eastern Health Board but it is not nearly enough. If we want to take it out of their hands it is time that we say as a citizenry, on behalf of our children, our parents and the old people who will be attacked, that we are going to take responsibility in Europe and elsewhere, that we are going to arrange to have a supply regulated under licence through the agencies of the states to take this contamination out of our society. That conclusion has been reached by people who have a lot more contact and experience of this problem than I could ever have. It must now be regulated by law and by effective international co-operation, where the states will take responsibility rather than leave it to the criminal drug barons who are undermining our society.
There are areas of this city involved which I will not mention — although if I did I am sure I would add nothing to the sum of knowledge of the police. Ecstasy is known as the "gateway" drug. When young people lose their own sense of discipline in the best sense of the word — real happiness comes from having discipline about one's habits — and they concede to soft drugs or to ecstasy, they are then going through the gateway. There are well known haunts in this city which conduct the rave parties, even in some hotels, in well known areas of this city, and young people who are not involved can tell parents of these places. It is not good enough that we should stand back and watch people make profits in these places whether on the quays or the newly designated areas being developed under urban renewal programme. That is a scandal.
We need a new approach. I encourage the Minister and the Government to force its European colleagues, the international community and the United Nations to agree from now on to take it on ourselves to regulate the control and distribution, and take it out of the hands of those who have contaminated our society.
I welcome the Minister and I congratulate Senator McGennis and the other Fianna Fáil Senators for having brought this most serious of our social issues before the House. The issue of in-patient beds under the control of the Eastern Health Board for the treatment of drug addiction, which Senator Doyle talked about, must be addressed urgently. A total of ten beds — in fact it is usually only about seven beds — in Beaumont Hospital is utterly ridiculous.
I was on the Eastern Health Board when this proposal was brought up initially. It took us years to get those beds in the hospital. The Minister is now promising that shortly there will be another ten beds in the Cherry Orchard complex. He says that they will be available in the spring of this year — the snowdrops will be coming up any moment so I hope the beds have been ordered and the staff are in position. Otherwise I may find myself in that great hospital in the sky in Tallaght before we get the ten bed unit. It is appalling that there is a waiting list to get into hospital to be cured of drug addiction when one wants to get off drugs, or begin a cure, rather, because detoxification is also important. I cannot stress how urgent this is.
I am glad that the previous Minister for Justice, in her plans for the women's prison, was addressing the situation regarding detoxification units there. About 90 per cent of inmates in the women's prison are involved with drugs and are in prison because of petty crime, mainly shoplifting. Without the facilities to get people detoxified while they are in prison we have no hope of getting them off drugs when they come out. I hope that the present Minister for Justice will have this as part of her brief when she is looking at the plans for the women's prison.
As you know, a Chathaoirligh, I have been requesting a debate on this issue since I was appointed to the Seanad. It certainly was not tabled to obstruct, or indeed, to be mischievous to the new Government. I tabled this motion so the new Government would realise the serious problem which the people in Dublin in particular are facing. There is a huge growth in drug abuse in every housing estate in Dublin. I know that there was a drug pusher living for over two years in the estate which I lived in and during that period the Garda were unable to do anything about it.
The constituency that I represent is one of the fastest growing areas — I think the statistic has been quoted — in Europe for young people. People in my area are very concerned and worried about the future. As I stated in my contribution, I am also concerned about the future for this country unless we have a comprehensive strategy and approach to try to solve this problem. As Senator O'Kennedy said, every country in the world has been trying to tackle this problem and has been unsuccessful, but we seem to have lagged seriously behind. We seem to have made some inroads during the mid-1980s, but the problem with heroin abuse, ecstasy and other drugs is now way out of control.
I thank the Minister for his comprehensive reply. There were striking similarities in the points that I brought up and those in his reply and I certainly did not have sight of his speech. I know he is indicating that he sees a need for a three tiered approach to this problem in terms of reduction of the supply and demand and the treatment available to those who are trying to get off the drug. However, in view of the fact that it has taken me two years to get this item on the agenda, there is now a need, as there have been numerous committee reports and monitoring groups, for this House to monitor whatever kind of progress is to be made in this area and to try to come up with positive suggestions for the future.
I thank the Minister for his support.
Question put and agreed to.
When is it proposed to sit again?
At 10.30 a.m. tomorrow.