Seanad debates

Wednesday, 12 November 2003

Courts and Court Officers (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second and Subsequent Stages. - National Drugs Strategy: Motion.

 

10:30 am

Photo of Frank FeighanFrank Feighan (Fine Gael)

I move:

That Seanad Éireann, conscious of the growing problem of drug abuse and drug-related crime throughout rural and urban Ireland, calls on the Government to tackle the escalating drugs culture by

–Fully implementing and resourcing the National Drugs Strategy,

–Recruiting an additional 2,000 members of the Garda Síochána as promised by the Government,

–Reversing the savage cutbacks in CE and JI schemes, which have reduced the capacity of the voluntary and community sector, and

–Ring fencing moneys from the Criminal Assets Bureau for the purpose of supporting communities dealing with the drugs crisis.

I welcome the Minister. The shocking results of the European school survey project on alcohol and other drugs highlighted the fact that the amount of cannabis use in Ireland among 15 to 16 year olds is double that of 11 other countries involved in the project. The use of other drugs is also more common than average. Inhalant use is twice as common here and a slightly higher proportion than average of respondents reported the use of alcohol in combination with pills.

It has been found that two fifths of the Irish prison population have a history of injecting drugs and nearly half of those continue to inject while in prison. Ireland has the highest levels of ecstasy and amphetamine use in western Europe. A United Nations report recently estimated that 66,000 people aged 15 and over take ecstasy at least once a year and 72,000 take amphetamines or speed. There are an estimated 14,450 heroin users in Ireland, the vast majority residing in the Dublin area. More than 50% of Irish prisoners are drug users, which compares very badly with the UK, where between 15% and 29% of prisoners use drugs.

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