Jack Wall
Ceist:426 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the position regarding initiatives by his Department to prevent drug misuse by children and teenagers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19858/01]
Written Answers. - Drugs Misuse.
My Department is represented on the structures which are in place to develop and implement multi-agency, integrated strategies to deal with the problem of drug misuse at national, regional and local level as defined in the report, Building on Experience – National Drugs Strategy 2001-2008. Under the national drugs strategy many initiatives have been developed and implemented which are specifically targeted at children and teenagers.
The Government has allocated considerable funding towards dealing with the drugs problem in local communities and towards tackling social exclusion. Action plans, reflecting multi-agency policies, were prepared by the local drugs task forces and evaluated by the national drugs strategy team. Some £10 million was allocated on an annual basis since 1998 to support the implementation of over 200 projects approved from the action plans. In addition, a further £15 million over a two year period has been allocated to support the development and implementation of new action plans by the local drugs task forces.
I am also pleased to inform the Deputy that my Department provides funding for a total of 51 Garda youth diversion projects in both urban and rural areas. The projects, which are overseen by my Department in conjunction with the Garda Síochána, are a crime prevention measure which aim, through both intervention and prevention, to divert young people, residing within their catchment area, who are most at risk, from becoming involved in criminal activity, vandalism, substance misuse and other anti-social activities. In addition, my Department also financially supports a total of seven drug misuse awareness-prevention projects in the Dublin and Cork areas.
The Garda schools programme for primary school children throughout the country endeavours to develop sensible and responsible patterns of behaviour in young people that would empower children in matters of their own safety and their social and legal responsibilities. Drug awareness and education is one of the topics covered by members of the Garda Síochána implementing this programme. It aims to enable the children to differentiate between medicines and drugs, consider the effects of alcohol and tobacco on the body and also help children to understand the importance of choice and decision making in their lives.
A similar educational programme is currently being developed for second level schools and ten pilot schemes are scheduled to come into operation from September 2001. This programme will operate in conjunction with the social, personal and health education syllabus of the junior cycle, which was prepared by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment and approved by the Department of Education and Science. The Deputy may also wish to note that the Department of Health and Children and the Department of Education and Science, in particular, are involved in a number of initiatives aimed at drug misuse prevention among young people.