Ms Carol Hyland:

On the issue of young people engaging in substance misuse and how these addiction problems and mental health issues can lead to antisocial behaviour, through the work we have done over the past 30-odd years, we see young people from a young age heading towards a life of criminality due to substance misuse. We are embedded in a community where there is a history of drug misuse. Young people now use drugs and alcohol at a much younger age, and to fund their drug habits and fit in, they engage in antisocial behaviour. There is a great deal of peer pressure on the young people we are currently working with to engage in antisocial behaviour. There is peer pressure on them to get substances and continue with their habits. Moreover, they tend to have poor coping mechanisms. These young people, in some cases, come from dysfunctional families and there may be mental health issues within the families. They will have learned poor coping methods throughout their lives. They will have experienced trauma and their way of coping with that is to misuse drugs and alcohol.

I might hand over to Mr. McCarthy, who is our drug and alcohol worker. He will have more to say on this matter.