Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 24 Feb 2000

Vol. 515 No. 2

Written Answers. - Substance Abuse.

Dick Spring

Ceist:

26 Mr. Spring asked the Minister for Health and Children his views on a recent study by his Department's promotion in the Eastern Health Board which indicated a high prevalence of substance misuse among 15 to 18 year olds; the strategy, if any, his Department has to address this and other problems outlined in the report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5576/00]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Martin)

The study referred to by the Deputy showed a high prevalence of tobacco consumption, alcohol and substance misuse. The health promotion unit of my Department has developed a number of initiatives aimed at tackling this problem across a range of settings as follows. The substance abuse prevention programme is a drug education programme for both primary schools in drugs task force areas and post primary schools nationwide offered through a partnership between my Department and the Department of Education and Science.

The social, personal and health education programme is a broad based lifeskills programme which is to be offered to schools nationwide from September of this year. The Department of Education and Science with the support of my Department will be responsible for implementing this over the coming three years.

Over the years a range of other programmes have been developed and implemented within schools. These programmes include the Smoke Busters programme, the teaching everyone about cancer and health – TEACH – programme and other regional and local initiatives supported by health boards and the health promotion unit.

The national youth health programme has been developed through a partnership between my Department, the Department of Education and Science and the National Youth Council of Ireland. This programme provides training and support for a range of initiatives including the youth work support pack for dealing with the drugs issue, knowledge is power and drink awareness for everyone. A range of other training and support is offered to youth groups and youth work leaders to better equip them to deal with the issue of drugs, alcohol and smoking as they arise in their work. Also within the youth sector a substantial number of drugs education workers have been appointed and supported.

The Drugs Questions, Local Answers programme is a community based programme offered by regional health boards which aims to activate local communities to assess the drug problem specific to their own area and to look at ways in which the community can respond.

Being well is another community based programme which encourages people to take a holis tic approach to their health but also looks specifically at smoking and alcohol.

In addition to the education programmes being implemented for young people, teachers, youth workers and community groups-representatives, it had been acknowledged that there is also a need to target interventions on drug education at parents. A range of parenting interventions are supported by my Department at a regional and local level including The family, communication and self-esteem programme which aims to look at ways in which parents can pro-actively deal with the issue of drugs within the home.

Finally, regional drugs co-ordinators have also been put in place within each health board with the specific task of leading out on a multi-sectoral approach to tackling the drugs issue on a more localised basis.