Those who are silly enough to believe the scourge of drug abuse has not yet spread to rural Ireland would do well to scan the provincial newspapers or listen to local radio.
Almost on a daily basis in the midlands the local stations carry reports of court cases where drug abusers and dealers are dealt with.
It would appear that the abuse of alcohol and cigarettes by young people should also be the focus of concern for parents. Longford recently set up a forum to deal with drugs, alcohol and substance abuse, using an interagency approach. It had before it a survey carried out among senior cycle students in the county to identify the attitude of young people to alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs.
The survey, involving 1,331 students in 10 post-primary schools, found that alcohol abuse among youngsters was an even greater problem than drug abuse.
The findings, presented at the launch of the action plan in Longford earlier this month, found that 64 per cent of those surveyed had an alcoholic drink at 15 or younger.
Some 73 per cent had their first alcoholic drink between the ages of 12 and 15 and 51 per cent drank several times a week or every day.
Of these, 68 per cent had three or more drinks, 53 per cent had four or more, and 38 per cent had five or more drinks during the week.
The survey, which represented the views of almost 80 per cent of the senior student population in Longford, found that 27 per cent had used cannabis, 20 per cent had used inhalants, 10 per cent had taken hallucinogens, 9 per cent had used amphetamines and 7.4 per cent had taken ecstasy.
The number of cigarette smokers was also very high. A total of 67 per cent had smoked, with 8 per cent smoking five or more cigarettes daily, while 47 per cent smoked between the ages of 11 and 14. Garda Supt Tom Murphy of Longford told the forum that underage drinking was the biggest problem facing the county. He warned publicans that if they were convicted of selling drink to anyone under the age of 18 he would be objecting to the renewal of their licences.
He did not, however, minimise the danger posed by the sale of controlled drugs, which was spreading to rural areas.
He estimated that there were as many as 10 drug dealers operating in the county and 18 people from the county were attending the methadone clinic in Athlone.
He said the Longford dealers were being supplied from outside the area and that while the problem was not a major one, it had the potential to become so.