Communities urged to take on responsibility of providing service for local drug abusers

Communities must take responsibility for the provision of local services for drug abusers in their own area, the Minister of State for Local Development has said.

Mr Chris Flood said that despite communities' concerns about "drug misusers loitering in their areas", the experience of his Department was that the provision of local treatment services resulted in a reduction in crime and the development of the community.

"Only clients from the community are seen in local treatment centres and individual users have to enter into a contract with the Eastern Health Board regarding personal behaviour within the treatment location and its immediate confines," he said.

Mr Flood was speaking at the launch of the Eastern Health Board's programme of events for European Drug Prevention Week, which continues until November 23rd.

Mr P.J. Fitzpatrick, the board's chief executive, said the EHB was recruiting staff and consulting with local communities in the hope of starting drug treatment services in nine further locations in the near future. He said an additional 16 drug treatment locations had been put in place this year, bringing the number of centres to 40.

At present there are 3,920 clients registered on the Central Patient Treatment List. Of these, 867 are being treated by GPs. The number of GPs prescribing methadone treatment in the EHB area has increased from 35 in January 1996 to 94 at present. The number of pharmacists dispensing methadone has more than trebled since January 1997, from 35 to 112.

The board's programme includes a range of activities designed to generate awareness about drugs and related issues among young people and their parents. A drugs prevention video Let's Talk Drugs with Parents, developed jointly by the EHB and the National Parents' Council, is aimed at helping parents detect signs of drug use and recognise "the situations where their children may be lured into the drugs culture". Information sessions for parents will also be held throughout the region. Some 40 primary schools participating in the Substance Misuse Prevention Programme will receive a CD resource pack as part of the drug prevention programme.

A Certificate of Addiction Studies devised in association with the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, will be launched in Ballyfermot in Dublin tomorrow, along with a drugs information network and newsletter for the area.

A one-day drugs awareness course will be held in St Patrick's Institution as part of a continuing education programme. Yesterday, nightclub staff who completed a 10-week "Safer Dancing Course" run by the board were presented with their certificates. The course was devised with the aim of "assisting club staff to recognise situations where drugs may be a factor and give them appropriate skills in harm reduction".

A conference to be held in Wicklow will highlight the role tenants' and residents' associations can play in drug prevention. Bray Urban District Council held a conference on the role local groups could play last Friday. The Kildare/West Wicklow Drugs Awareness/Information website will also be launched this week.

Literature will be distributed in shopping centres, health centres and libraries, and a school poster competition will be held as part of the week's programme. Youth services, schools, agencies and arts and drama groups will also organise activities. The health board has provided funding to a number of other voluntary and community groups to organise specific events.

The National Parents' Council said that "the suggestion of legalising so-called `soft drugs' or mechanisms for testing the quality of the drugs which implied that such drugs are acceptable and safe must be firmly rejected".