Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 November 2006
178 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the new measures he proposes to introduce to respond to the drug situation, in view of the new data on fatal drug overdoses, particularly involving cocaine, and the growing concern among communities. [37290/06]
View answerThere are inherent dangers in drug use, including the use of cocaine. In particular the consumption of cocaine with alcohol, which is converted in the body to cocaethylene and which is more toxic than either drug consumed separately, can be extremely hazardous. 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, the prevention programmes in schools and the very encouraging results of the Research Outcome Study in Ireland (ROSIE) which evaluated heroin treatment effectiveness.
While I am confident that, through the implementation of the actions in the National Drugs Strategy and the projects and initiatives operated through the Local and Regional Drugs Task Forces, the problem of cocaine use can be and is being addressed, I also recognised the need for an overview of the emerging threat from cocaine. To this end, I asked the National Advisory Committee on Drugs and the National Drug Strategy Team to prepare a joint briefing paper on the current situation with regards to cocaine use. I received this report in September and it contains a number of recommendations to tackle the growth in the use of cocaine. My Department has written to the relevant Departments and agencies regarding the recommendations of the report and they are awaiting responses in this regard. It is envisaged that the matter will be followed up further at the December meeting of the Inter-departmental Group on Drugs. There is no substitution treatment drug for cocaine and existing services such as counselling and behavioural therapy are the best treatments available. In this context, the Health Service Executive has recruited additional counsellors and outreach workers in the last number of years.
In relation to the Drugs Task Forces, each one has in place an action plan to tackle drug use in their area based on their own identified priorities and they continue to have ongoing contact with their local communities. Six projects in LDTF areas specifically aimed at cocaine have been allocated funding of €421,285 under the Emerging Needs Fund. Five of the projects focus on the provision of direct community based services for cocaine users located within existing services and the sixth is supporting the development of an information booklet.
Furthermore, I launched the four pilot cocaine treatment projects to examine different methods of treatment for cocaine use, as well as a training initiative focusing on frontline workers. Funding of almost €400,000 was provided by me to support these initiatives.
The four projects deal with the following cohorts of cocaine users:
intravenous cocaine users;
poly-drug users using cocaine; · problematic intranasal cocaine users; and
problematic female cocaine users.
While these projects are at varying stages of progress, preliminary evaluation reports will be available on most of them shortly. It is hoped that the results of these evaluations will aid the formulation of effective actions aimed at tackling cocaine misuse. I might also point out that all primary and second level schools now have substance misuse prevention programmes. In addition, the National Drugs Awareness Campaign focused one of their campaigns specifically on cocaine use.
The problems associated with cocaine use have not been underestimated. In particular I am determined that we will continue to work to get the message across that cocaine is a dangerous drug and that its use directly contributes to the illegal drugs industry and the crime and violence associated with it. Overall, I believe that progress is being made and I will continue to respond in a flexible and focused way as the situation evolves.
