Mr. Packie Kelly:

We will try to field as many questions as we can. I thank the members for their questions.

On the issue of availability, the substances can be purchased on the Internet and there are numerous dealers. We have knowledge of about eight dealers within Monaghan town from whom people can freely buy the drugs. When members get time to peruse the report, they will read about the way herbal is advertised. People come into the area in their cars playing very loud music. One participant said it is like the ice cream van. Everyone knows the dealer has arrived.

The age profile of users is 50:50. There are children as young as 14 and some people in their early 40s. While our small study covers Monaghan town, I was glad to hear Deputy Byrne saying the problem is everywhere. It certainly touches every aspect of life in County Monaghan. This is not just a Teach na Daoine or Mullaghmatt Cortolvin issue. Herbal highs are widely available in Monaghan town and in the small villages throughout the county.

The issue of accident and emergency services and what happens to young people was raised. To be fair to everyone, no one knows how to deal with the symptoms of this issue.

What the experts would say is: "We do not know what is in this stuff, so we do not know how to treat someone." The real difficulty for us in the family resource centre with limited resources - although by no stretch of the imagination would I wish to dramatise this - is that on a daily basis we are afraid that once the person who has come in and sought some resource from us, or just some chill-out time, leaves the centre, they may not be back. There is certainly talk within the community of who is going to die next. That is the level of substance use that exists. People are afraid that another person within the community may die as a result. It is a very difficult issue for a family resource centre or even for an addiction service such as that in Cavan-Monaghan to deal with this issue, as there are many layers to it and it is compounded with many difficult problems, not to mind access to the services or the legality of the issue. We have asked the experts about this because, like the committee today, we are learning in regard to this issue. We asked them what is the equivalent of this problem, and they said it was the equivalent of crystal meth. Given the international experience in this regard, that really hits hard. They say that users who use crystal meth only use crystal meth. In Monaghan, users who use this do not use any other substance. Current users of this would previously have been abusers of alcohol, but they have stopped. I said that in the report. They say, "Forget about alcohol; alcohol does not count any more. This is the stuff." This is the stuff that puts them in a place where they unfortunately want to go.