Dominic Hannigan (Labour)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Pat Carey, to the House and congratulate him on his recent elevation. It is a good sign that somebody of his commitment is in his position and this bodes well for the future. I am sure we all agree that drugs are a major curse in modern society and I therefore welcome the chance to debate the subject.

The commitments made in the National Drugs Strategy 2001-2008 have not yet been honoured in their entirety and many problems have still to be addressed. I wish to address four main areas: the means by which we can reduce supply; the means of preventing drugs from reaching our shores; improving treatment for addicts; and the need for research into why people feel the need to take drugs. The current national drugs strategy lists 100 specific actions for tackling drug abuse. We need to review the list as part of the new strategy and determine which actions have been carried out. We also need to add to these actions, if necessary.

Let me address the issues associated with one of the most prevalent drugs in our society, alcohol. As a nation we top the poll for the consumption of alcohol. In the past four years our consumption has increased by 10% and our rate of consumption is higher than the European average. Some two thirds of Europeans have had a drink in the past month while the proportion in Ireland is higher.

I am concerned about the age profile of alcohol users. The age at which people are drinking is becoming increasingly lower and this is because youths find it easy to purchase drink in off-licences or to get friends, family members or others to buy it for them. We must consider the enforcement of our licensing laws to make it more difficult for younger members of society to gain access to alcohol in the first place.

There has been an explosion in the use of cocaine in Ireland since the publication of the current national drugs strategy. The number of people seeking help for abuse of this drug has increased by 250% in the past nine years. Its use crosses all sections of society and affects the young and old, and the rich and poor. Cocaine is perceived by many as harmless and accessible, and as a drug one takes when one goes out at the weekend, but the reality is very different. It is a crime to take cocaine and it is not a victimless one. The use of cocaine leads to more people in the drugs trade getting shot and means the reasons for getting involved in the trade in the first place remain. Anyone who takes cocaine should do so knowing he or she is contributing to gang warfare, about which we are so concerned at present. We need to educate citizens about the fact that cocaine use is a crime and that there are victims.

Heroin addiction is a major problem and it is estimated that there are over 1 million heroin users across the European Union. In Ireland, gardaí will tell one heroin is mostly a problem in Dublin, in which nine out of ten heroin offences take place.

The reasons for addiction to heroin are many and varied. One reason that recurs is the lack of access to education. Some 75% of heroin users have been shown to have left school at an early age. It is important to ensure that we tackle drug use in schools and state to teenagers that it is detrimental to their future well-being. It is through programmes such as the Right to Read campaign in Dublin, on which there is a conference on Saturday, that we can help people to avoid drugs and engage in self-improvement. We should consider such measures.

The issue of treatment has arisen time and again. We need to ensure that there are places available for those who wish to come off drugs and that programmes such as the Merchant's Quay project are sufficiently funded and expanded nationally.

Harm reduction policy is essential and in this respect reference was made to needle exchange programmes. A doctor from the Mater Hospital told me recently that a person taking heroin by needle has a 90% chance of contracting hepatitis C. A needle exchange programme would clearly help to reduce this and the incidence of HIV infection. At present there is only one full-time needle exchange service in Dublin. It does not open in the evenings or weekends and is a nine-to-five operation, in spite of the reality that drug users are not users only from Monday to Friday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. They do not go to the country for the weekend; they are in the city all the time and it is therefore important that this be reflected in the strategy. Opening hours need to be extended to evenings and weekends and the programme needs to be extended nationwide.

There is an increase in the abuse of substances other than heroin and cocaine, including antidepressants. The new national drugs strategy should refer to such drugs and propose methods to deal with their abuse.

The current national drugs strategy proposes the setting up of a trial inner-city drugs court. This recommendation was implemented but I would like to know whether there are intentions to develop the programme further. What sort of results did it achieve and could it form part of a strategy to help lower the rate of drug abuse in the Dublin area? Such programmes, and other research programmes, can help to show us the way forward. I would like an annual report on drug use in Ireland to be published. Such a report would help us to learn what the problem is and try to come up with some solutions. I would like to hear the Minister of State's comments on that. The national drugs strategy must support the drugs task forces by setting out a framework that will allow agencies to concentrate their energies on preventing and curing addiction, rather than criminalising addicts.