Illegal drug use is a global issue and so our efforts to tackle it in Ireland must be seen in that context. The enormity and the geographic scale of the struggle we face can be illustrated by considering the sources of the drugs that are sold on our streets. Cannabis resin comes predominately from Morocco, but it can also come from the Middle East and the Indian sub continent. Cocaine originates in Latin America, mostly Colombia, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru while heroin comes mainly from the so-called Golden Crescent of Afghanistan and Pakistan, but also from Burma, Laos and Thailand. To really get to grips with the international problems of drug misuse, it is imperative that the drug issue be tackled in all those countries as well as in all the countries through which drugs travel before they reach our shores.
Against this background I feel that it is naïve to believe that Ireland can be kept totally drug-free, and it is from that context, and in answer to a question, that the comment on the "war on drugs" is taken.
The National Drugs Strategy recognises the volatility and change inherent in the misuse of drugs and so it is flexible in its approach. The implementation of the Strategy, which is co-ordinated by my Department, is being progressed with the significant input of other Government Departments and Agencies – for example, the Health Services Executive, the Departments of Health & Children, Education & Science, Justice, Equality & Law Reform, An Garda Síochána, the Irish Prisons Service, the Customs Service of the Revenue Commissioners and FÁS. Through this on-going process of co-operation and partnership all of these bodies are playing important roles in the implementation of the overall Strategy and in meeting the changing challenges which arise.
I believe that there are encouraging signs of progress over the past couple of years — be it in the areas of drug seizures, the expansion of treatment services, the establishment of the Regional Drugs Task Forces or prevention programmes in schools.
This Government has placed great emphasis on progressing the 108 Actions of the National Drugs Strategy, as revised at the Mid-Term Review stage. While the implementation of the Actions is very challenging, I am confident that the momentum built up around the various initiatives will see them implemented within the Strategy timescale which runs to the end of 2008.