Limerick East): There are no hard data on the percentage of youths who may participate in illegal drug use. The Health Research Board report on Treated Drug Misuse in Ireland (1995) noted that 3,399 people, of whom 31 per cent, or 1,054, were teenagers, presented for treatment in the greater Dublin area and 766 persons, of whom 39 per cent, or 299, were teenagers, in the rest of the country. It must be emphasised that this is the number of people who received treatment, so the total number of people misusing drugs would be considerably in excess of this figure. The main drugs of misuse in all health boards are ecstasy and cannabis, while the abuse of heroin is mainly confined to the Dublin area. In order to address the problem of lack of information on the prevalence of drug misuse Government decisions in February 1996 recommended that “there should be greater emphasis on providing basic information on the extent and type of drug misuse”. As a result of these decisions, health boards are establishing databases in order to provide more reliable and comparable information in the future.
The drugs issue has been a high priority for the Government, especially in the recent past. On 20 February 1996 the Government approved proposals on new demand reduction measures to prevent drug misuse. The objectives of the proposals were based on two key elements: reducing the number of people turning to drug misuse in the first instance through information, education and prevention programmes; and providing a range of treatment options for those addicted to drugs, the ultimate objective of which must be a return to a drug free lifestyle, although this may not be a realistic goal in every instance, in the short term at least.