Breeda Moynihan-Cronin (Kerry South, Labour)
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Question 108: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the discussions he has had with the Department of Education and Science regarding drug use among undergraduate students in full-time third level education; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10813/06]

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I have had no specific discussions with the Minister for Education and Science on drug use among undergraduate students in full-time third level education but I am in ongoing contact with all those involved in efforts to disrupt the distribution and consumption of illegal drugs throughout society, including the Minister for Education and Science.

The primary focus of the 108 actions of the national drugs strategy is on the illegal drugs that do the most harm and on the most vulnerable drug misusers as well as their families and communities. The main focus of the strategy with respect to the education sector is on preventative strategies targeting the primary and secondary levels and the informal education sector, including youth services. Arising from this, all such schools now have substance misuse prevention programmes included on their curricula. A consequence of this strategy should be to arm undergraduate students with the knowledge about the dangers of drug misuse before they enter college.

The strategy also includes a national awareness campaign, managed by the Department of Health and Children and aimed at promoting greater awareness and understanding of the causes and consequences of drug misuse throughout society. Aspects of this campaign were specifically targeted at the young adult population.

It is very difficult to quantify drug use by socio-economic group. The drug prevalence survey carried out for the national advisory committee on drugs and the drug and alcohol information and research unit, Northern Ireland, which is recognised as the most comprehensive baseline data we have for prevalence rates in this country, identified usage in the past 12 months by young adults — 15 to 34 years — as 8.6% for cannabis and 2.3% for ecstasy. That survey covered 8,442 people, aged between 15 and 64, on the island of Ireland.

The college lifestyle and attitudinal national — CLAN — survey, which was jointly carried out by the health promotion unit of the Department of Health and Children and NUI Galway in the academic year 2002-03, dealt with a sample of 3,259 students from universities and other third level institutions across Ireland. Drug use was one of the many areas under focus. The focus and methodology of the survey differed from the 2002-03 drug prevalence survey. Therefore, the results of the two surveys are not directly comparable and they do not throw up the same figures. However, the findings are nonetheless valuable in improving our understanding of drug misuse by university students in Ireland.

Established research suggests that this cohort is more likely to experiment with drug use than are other sections of society and the CLAN survey reflected this. In the CLAN survey, 37% reported having used cannabis and 8% indicated that they had used ecstasy in the previous 12 months. It would be expected that these figures would include many who experimented once, or at least very few times, rather than reflecting more problematic long-term or regular use, which is the main focus of the national drugs strategy.