Joanna Tuffy (Labour)

I welcome the Minister of State and thank him for his presentation. I welcome the work of the local drugs task forces and the progress made to date on the strategy.

Drug taking is, and will continue to be, a growing problem. A drugs transaction between two young people took place recently beside me at a bus stop in my area. They were not the stereotypical drug addicts. While we must recognise that the problem is to be found everywhere, there must be targeted intervention. The Minister of State mentioned the 14 local drugs task forces. However, we must consider other areas because we need to be on top of the problem.