Thomas Gould
Ceist:320. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Health if his Department has any initiatives to run harm-reduction education programmes around addiction for young people. [47510/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThursday, 20 October 2022
Ceisteanna (320)
Freagraí scríofa
The National Drugs Strategy, Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery, ‘A health-led response to drug and alcohol use in Ireland 2017-2025’, sets out a health-led approach to drug use.
Strengthening harm reduction responses to high-risk drug use is a drug strategy action and the Programme for Government also commits to increase and support drug testing services, particularly at festivals.
The HSE, in conjunction with the Department of Health, established a Working Group to review evidence in relation to drug trends and health responses applicable to the night-time economy and drug checking provision to help inform recommendations and to develop implementation plans to address these areas. The report of the Working Group was published in 2021 and made a series of recommendations on how to improve health responses to drug use within the night-time economy, including festival settings.
In May 2022, the HSE launched the Safer Nightlife Programme for Festival Settings 2022 programme. This multi-component programme for festivals involved a media campaign, the development of resources (leaflets, posters, and merchandise), and the recruitment and training of volunteers and outreach at a number of festivals over the summer months.
The aims of this festival programme included engaging with festival attendees in a non-judgmental way on the topic of substance use and related issues such as mental health, as well as providing high quality drug education in festival settings. The programme also delivered harm reduction information concerning drug trends as well as brief interventions aiming to influence behaviour and encourage safer choices.
As part of the Safer Nightlife Programme, a proposal was submitted by the HSE to the Department of Health, the Department of Justice and An Garda Síochána regarding the implementation of a pilot programme to monitor drug trends in festival settings through the use of surrender bins. This resulted in a pilot ‘back of house’ drug monitoring programme being implemented at the Electric Picnic festival in September of this year.
This programme sought to identify and communicate if particularly dangerous substances were in circulation at Electric Picnic and, based on samples submitted to the HSE, three risk communication messages were issued throughout the weekend: two relating to high strength products and one relating to a new substance.
The HSE will publish a report of the drug trends identified in the pilot monitoring programme in the coming weeks. A review of the wider festival programme will be published at a later date and will include a series of recommendations with feedback from nightlife representatives.
The HSE anticipates that it will collaborate with the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, the Nightlife Task Force, and nightlife representatives to discuss the further development of harm reduction initiatives across nightlife spaces such as bars, clubs and other settings where substance use may occur.
It is for this reason that the Minister announced funding as part of Budget 2023 of €0.25m to expand drug monitoring initiatives and analysis in order to further inform policy responses.
Separately, Minister Feighan recently announced an allocation of €1.5 million for a three-year drug prevention and education programme. This is the first time that national funding has been made available for drug prevention.
The funding program is a key deliverable under the national drug strategy to strengthen the prevention of drug and alcohol use, and related harm among children and young people. The program fulfils a commitment to the Government Program and aligns with actions in the EU Drugs Action Plan.
This initiative will build on local and sectoral initiatives, such as Know the Score, and draw on evidence from Europe to professionalize and elevate drug prevention practice in Ireland. In particular, the program will promote the European Prevention Curriculum and international prevention standards.
We cannot be complacent about the potential dangers of drug and alcohol use for our young people. It is the priority of the Minister of State for the National Drugs Strategy to strengthen harm reduction responses to high-risk drug use associated with the night-time economy and festivals, and to strengthen the prevention of drug and alcohol use and the associated harms. I look forward to continuing working with all stakeholders on these initiatives.