Vol. 567 No. 5
147 Mr. P. McGrath asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the progress made to date on reducing the level of substance abuse reported to ESPAD by 15% by 2003 as promised in the National Drugs Strategy 2001-2008; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14476/03]
The European school survey project on alcohol and other drugs, ESPAD, study examines the prevalence of drug use, both legal and illegal, among 16 year old schoolgoers. The study describes the substance use behaviours, as well as related beliefs and attitudes, among over 80,000 15-16 year olds in 30 European countries. The methodology involves the use of an identical questionnaire in each of the participating countries, which is then collected, using the same methods to allow for the collation of a comprehensive and comparable dataset. The most recent ESPAD study was conducted in 1999 and the report published in 2001. On this basis, the ESPAD study conducted in 2003 will not be available until 2005.
I should make the Deputy aware that the national advisory committee on drugs, has commissioned a general population survey on drug use and the results are due out later this year. In addition, the NACD recently released an estimate of the number of opiate users in Ireland which, when compared to the previous estimate, showed a drop in prevalence in Dublin.
Question No. 148 answered with Question No. 114.
Questions Nos. 149 and 150 answered with Question No. 118.
