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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 24 Oct 2001

Vol. 542 No. 6

Written Answers. - National Drugs Strategy.

Gay Mitchell

Ceist:

225 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will make a statement on the need to re-think drug abuse primarily as a health rather than a criminal justice issue, as set out in the Merchants Quay Ireland Annual Report 2000. [25564/01]

The overall objective of the Government's strategy in relation to drug misuse is to significantly reduce the harm caused to individuals and society by the misuse of drugs through a concerted focus on supply reduction, prevention, treatment and research. With regard to treatment the objective is to provide a range of options to encourage and enable drug misusers to avail of treatment with the aim of reducing dependency and improving overall health and social well-being, with the ultimate aim of leading a drug-free lifestyle. The Merchant's Quay report broadly welcomed the new national drugs strategy and it also noted that a framework involving all relevant Departments, health and education services and the community and voluntary sector, can work to reduce the harm caused by problematic drug use. The national drugs strategy team and local drugs task forces are comprised of such a framework.

The National Drugs Strategy 2001-2008, which was published in May 2001 by the Taoiseach, is the result of a comprehensive review initiated by my colleague Deputy Eoin Ryan, Minister of State with responsibility for national drugs strategy in April 2000. The strategy has been developed around the four pillars of supply, prevention, treatment – including rehabilitation and risk reduction – and research. This approach incorporates, more or less, the full range of activities which are the hallmarks of modern drugs strategies in other jurisdictions. The strategy sets objectives and key performance indicators against which progress may be monitored. Some 100 individual actions have been identified which the rel evant bodies have to carry out in order to implement the strategy and meet its objectives. A group has been established, chaired by the deputy secretary general to drive the implementation of those actions relevant to my Department and the health boards.
Services for drug users which include education, treatment and rehabilitation, continue to be expanded in all boards and significant additional funding has been made available to the boards in recent years for this purpose. The national drugs strategy team continues to work closely with the local drugs task forces to empower local communities to respond positively to the drugs issues in their own areas. Regional drugs task forces will be established in all health boards in the coming months which will also consolidate and co-ordinate existing services.
There is, in every drug policy an element that requires a justice response. This is the case in Irish policy also. However, I believe that our overall policy is a balanced one which is also a strongly health focused one. A number of actions aim to broaden the range of treatment and rehabilitation options, including harm reduction measures. Health boards will continue to work with voluntary groups such as Merchants Quay to develop effective responses to the problem and through regular monitoring of the overall implementation of the strategy I am confident that the actions undertaken will have a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of all the population, but particularly on those who are misusing drugs.
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