Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank him for the work that he has done in this area. I compliment him on the way he has dealt with the media. He has conveyed a positive message on the new approach being taken to tackle this issue. We need a new approach to certain ways we have of dealing with the matter.

Let us look at an interesting study produced by the European School Survey Project, which interviewed 2,200 children aged under 16 years and found that 19% of them reported using an illicit drug in their lifetime. The figure is quite high, but it is still lower than the figure of 22% obtained from a similar survey. The National Advisory Committee on Drugs and Alcohol, NACDA, also carried out research which showed that 27% of participants reported using illegal drugs in their lifetime. The percentage was broken down into the following categories: in the 25 to 34 age group, 42% of participants confirmed they had used illicit drugs; in the 35 to 44 age group, it was 29%; and in the 15 to 24 age group, it was 27%. Those figures highlight the fact that there is an important job to be done in education and trying to steer people away from ever touching illicit drugs.

The National Drugs Strategy 2009-2016 sets out 63 different objectives, and we have made progress in those areas. The five pillars of the strategy are supply reduction, prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and research.

The Joint Committee on Health and Children recently heard a presentation on drug addition and recovery. One of the speakers was a project leader from a HSE-run project in Dublin. He talked about the principles that reflect recovery and said:

Recovery is self-directed and empowering. Recovery involves a personal recognition of the need for change and transformation. Recovery involves rejoining and rebuilding life in the community. Recovery involves addressing discrimination and transcending shame and stigma.

Those are some of the issues that need to be highlighted. Recovery for a person who has a drug problem, which involves personal recognition of the need for change and transformation, requires a lot of support. When people arrive at that stage, a large number of them know that abstaining from drugs is the way they want to go, but it is difficult for them to succeed unless they have support. A survey of 1,007 drug users in Scotland showed that 56.6% identified abstinence as their main aspiration. To achieve that they need every bit of support, not only from friends, but from family and the health service.

An interesting report entitled Addiction Recovery: A Contagious Paradigm! was presented to the Joint committee on Health and Children in 2014. I shall quote one of the people cited in the report, who said:

I saw the good life of those in recovery, began to buy into the process. ... Started to put on iPod and had a watch the time going to clinic and avoid speaking to others who were using drugs. I started seeing a counsellor, talking about self, stuff and family (once per week). Starting going out walking to mountains with non-using friends, every fortnight for full day. I also played soccer every Monday night. Began to write, keeping a diary.

He continued by stating that the supports that he received were the key to his recovery. The report just shows that we need to ensure support services are available.

In the National Drugs Strategy 2009-2016 we set out 63 objectives, but we need to continue to review the processes that are in place and see what changes must be made. The Minister of State has already identified a number of changes to be made in the comprehensive speech that he delivered here this evening, which were also mentioned in his broadcasts.

It is important that we look at alternatives. I was approached by one of the people who provide alternatives to methadone. We have had a high reliance on methadone as a heroin substitute and as a way to get people out of their difficulties. I apologise, but I cannot pronounce the name of the alternative drug that is available.