Labhrás Ó Murchú (Fianna Fail)

I compliment the Minister of State on the proactive role he has played with regard to this issue. He has spoken to the Seanad on a number of occasions and to the joint committee of which I am a member. It is evident from his contributions on those occasions that he is determined to devise a strategy which will bring results and to ensure that research is carried out to give us a complete understanding of the problem we are trying to tackle.

For a long time there has been a sense of denial in our communities and on the part of parents regarding this issue. It is only when a tragic case occurs, a large quantity of illegal drugs is seized or there is an exposé of the drug trade in the media that we stop and become alarmed. However, we soon continue unconcerned. One wonders if we realise the depth of the problem, the terrible havoc it is creating and the lives it is destroying. It is not only the lives of drug users which are being destroyed. The whole community is affected. When we hear a horrific crime has taken place, perhaps involving people coming out of a club or place of entertainment late at night, we stop and try to rationalise how such things can happen. These actions cannot be rationalised if substances are being used which take away an individual's control over his own actions. In effect, the whole community is held to ransom as a result of the terrible abuse of drugs.

While many would have expected the statistics provided by the Minister, others will be alarmed by them. Some feel the level of drug abuse would not register on the scale, but it is clear that even in the case of hard drugs, we are talking of 3% to 4% of the population. However, when 20% or more admit they have partaken of illegal drugs at some time, it indicates the type of problem with which we must contend.

We now seem to focus much more on the problem. In addition to having a strategy which will in some way alleviate this problem and deal with the security aspect to ensure drugs do not enter the country, two areas are particularly important, namely, education and advertising. In the context of education, Members are aware there is huge peer pressure in regard not just to fashions and attitudes, but also alcohol, which is itself a drug, and other substances. It is very difficult to withstand this type of pressure unless it is highlighted within the education system and unless professionals point out to the young exactly what it means to respond to such pressure. I would go so far as to say it means they are destroying their lives. Young people may not die but the possibility of developing their personalities and career opportunities, or having a quality of life with which they can be happy, are slim if they give in to peer pressure, which is happening.

A terrible recent case was highlighted in which a young man was beaten to death. While I will not go into the horrific details of the case, it is clear that alcohol or other substances were involved. Those involved were not from deprived backgrounds — quite the opposite. Nevertheless, there was almost a gang approach towards the young man who was killed and it is not possible that those involved could have stopped to think of exactly what they were doing. In some way they had lost control of their actions. Education is vital in tackling such problems.

It should be possible to have advertising campaigns similar to anti-smoking campaigns, although there have not been campaigns concerning alcohol to such a degree because it does not seem politically correct to go down that road. However, there should be an advertising campaign to highlight the horror attached to substance abuse and the manner in which lives are ruined and communities virtually destroyed.