Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister and the Bill which follows the misuse of drugs order presented in May to proscribe over 200 drugs. Last year drug dealers were coming up with a new version of a drug every two weeks to get around the law. The Bill will close down head shops. There is a provision to make it a civil rather than a criminal offence which means the matter can be dealt with in a civil court using the powers available to a superintendent and that action can be taken more quickly as a result of a reduced burden of proof. As we have all heard the horror stories, this action is timely.

I organised a public meeting in Killarney last Monday night which was attended by 250 people, mostly mothers concerned about their children and others. Many admitted afterwards that they had lacked information on head shops and their impact. Stories were told of how children, in speaking to the Kerry Diocesan Youth Service, had said they saw head shops as legitimate as they were open to the public. A counsellor who had spoken to children as young as 13 years who had fallen under the spell of such drugs said that when asked if they would take cocaine, they had replied that they would not because that drug was illegal. As the products in question are sold as legal highs, their use does not seem to be considered wrong unlike the use of heroin or cocaine.

I compliment the Garda Síochána on its work. Garda Denis Lenihan from the Killarney division spoke about the powers available under the Misuse of Drugs Act, as well as the Bill before us which deals with psychoactive drugs. He also spoke about the powers to be given to superintendents to go into head shops and bring offenders before the courts if they continued to break the law.

The big issue concerns the way parents control their children. Many have stated there are no boundaries on coming home. In fairness to the Kerry Diocesan Youth Service, it has indicated the law can only do so much. Ultimately, parents must know where their children are and indicate the times at which they should come home. If they see signs of drug use, early intervention is critical. Mr. Des Bailey from the service is supposed to concentrate on issues in the Killarney area, but the scope of activities has been extended to cover all of south Kerry because of this epidemic. When 11 people present at the accident and emergency unit in Tralee or in Killarney on a Saturday night suffering from the ill-effects of these drugs, it shows the scale of the epidemic.

It is a myth that soft or gateway drugs such as marijuana are harmless and it was dispelled at the meeting. People are under the impression that it is okay to use marijuana. Ms Leona Cronin from the Kerry Addiction Counselling Service pointed out that marijuana was 60% to 80% more powerful and potent than it was 20 or 30 years ago. There is an 80% chance that one will suffer from a psychotic effect after long-term usage of marijuana. It comes down to getting information to parents through radio programmes and newspaper articles. Their ignorance and lack of information on the symptoms and consequent action to be taken have been admitted. To a degree, that is a failure on our part also to provide the education they need on what should be done in the protection of children.

As outlined by the Minister, implementation of the Bill will take place in the next couple of weeks. Head shops will be closed down, but preparations have been made to move underground, with off-site operations to be set up. A market has been created in the past few months and there is a database of clients in place. These clients will need their fix and will continue to go to the suppliers of the most potent drugs. Whack, the most recent version, has been proved to have a serious effect on a person's mental capacity. Once people take these drugs, their personalities are permanently altered. There is a frightening statistic which indicates that between 10% and 15% of those who dabble in drugs will become addicts. Not all of them recover or get their lives back. This is a welcome move by the Government. The Government has taken this by the scruff of the neck and introduced legislation to close down head shops. They have now been criminalised so we must bring the full force of law to bear on them.

I compliment The Kingdom newspaper and Radio Kerry on the meeting they organised for Monday last. As some individuals pointed out, that was the longest and most pleasant day of the year to date in Kerry and it was expected to be difficult to encourage people to attend the meeting. However, some 250 people attended to educate themselves in this matter. This is an indication of the concern. I hope the Government, through the citizens information bureaux and other agencies, will take an active role in the context of disseminating information to parents and children on this matter. The children and young adults taking these drugs do not see a problem with them because they were previously seen to be legal. As explained by the Kerry diocesan news service, children who would never have become involved with drugs or spend time in the company of those who were so involved are now involved because the substances with which the Bill deals were previously seen as being legitimate.

The Bill will criminalise this entire area, which will put a stop to more children becoming involved with the drugs scene. That is a welcome development. I ask that, during the summer months, an information campaign be mounted on radio and by means of Facebook. The latter is an easy medium through which to access children and advertising on it is relatively cheap. The European headquarters of Facebook is located in Dublin so that should make matters easy in this regard so that children might educate themselves on the ill effects of the type of drugs to which I refer and what will happen to them if they become involved in using these substances. It would be of assistance if those who previously took these drugs and whose lives have been irrevocably changed as a result, provided testimony in respect of what happened to them.

At the meeting to which I refer, Leona Cronin of the Kerry addiction counselling service pointed out that for every one person who becomes involved in drugs or who becomes an addict, seven others - including family members, friends, and so on - are affected. We must take steps to prevent the effect this can have on society.