John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

As the Deputy will be aware, the national drugs public awareness campaign, led by the HSE, was launched by my predecessor, the Minister of State, Deputy Pat Carey, in February last. The campaign focused on cocaine and young people, highlighting not only the dangers for the individuals who use the drug, but also the damage caused by cocaine related activity in society, activity that is often disproportionately felt in disadvantaged areas. Apart from raising awareness and providing information, the campaign aimed to get individuals to challenge and change their own attitudes and behaviour and to dispel the myths surrounding drug misuse.

In research conducted by the National Advisory Committee on Drugs, which advises the Government on problem drug use in Ireland, it was found that information campaigns of this nature achieve best results if they are sustained for a period of time and if they have a national and a local dimension. For this reason, the intention is to continue the campaign for some time and to initiate more local awareness campaigns to dovetail with the message and design of the national campaign run by the HSE.

In this regard, I have provided funding of €500,000 to the local and regional drugs task forces to run their own locally based campaigns which will highlight the issues raised in the national campaign but focus on issues relating to cocaine use in their own areas. The task forces are currently working on their individual campaigns and some are working on joint proposals. Some of the ideas coming forward include cinema and billboard advertising. It is hoped that all task forces will have their campaigns up and running before the end of the year.

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