John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

I am pleased the figures have come to light because I spoke with a number of people over a period of time who clearly felt what was reported regarding drug-related deaths was significantly understated. This is the first comprehensive report and is very detailed and thorough. The numbers, as the Deputy said, are staggering. In 2005 alone 400 people died as a result of drugs. When we discuss those people here, we talk about them as a statistic but behind every one of those deaths was a family. The person was somebody's son, daughter, parent, brother or sister. The loss of life has been staggering, as has been its impact on families and communities.

The Deputy asked a number of questions. The incidence is higher in the Dublin area than in the rest of the country. Just over half of the deaths are as a result of poisoning or using more than one substance, including legal and illegal drugs. Opiates, including heroin, are still the main cause of deaths among people who die from poisoning. The information on the 400 deaths is from 2005. Cocaine was implicated in 100 of those deaths. A quarter of the poisonings were as a result of alcohol in conjunction with another drug. Again, this information is only for 2005. The majority of cases were males aged between 20 and 40 years of ages.

I want to make some general points. The Deputy asked what we would do about it. Before we can address the problem, it is important to identify there is not one single problem but multiple problems to be addressed. Illegal drugs are involved in many cases of drug-related deaths. However, prescribed drugs and over-the-counter medication, such as anti-anxiety drugs like valium, antidepressants and pain-killers are frequently involved in such deaths, either alone or in conjunction with illegal drugs. For example, benzodiazepines are often combined with an illegal substance and have resulted in almost one in every three deaths by poisoning. That is one aspect of the issue. It is very complicated and there is not just one solution to the problem.

Not all deaths were from poisoning. Other issues arose, such as infection with HIV through needle sharing and cardiac events due to cocaine use. Again, the profile in that age group was male.

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