Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

The awareness campaign is an integral part of the national drug strategy and constitutes one of its five pillars. I am determined to continue to fund initiatives. The sum of €2 million is intended for local awareness campaigns and I await the submission of proposals from all parts of the country. I expect they will be highly innovative and a number of groups have spoken to me in this regard. It is not always down to cost as effectiveness probably is as important. Certainly however, money will be available in the area of cocaine in particular. Moreover, the area of poly-drug use is developing because Irish people appear to be interested in mixing their drugs.

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