STATE SET TO MOUNT NEW OFFENSIVE IN WAR ON DRUGS

A new anti-drugs plan for Dublin, which would see a multi-million pound
investment in anti-drugs initiatives, is to be launched by the Government.

The new national drugs strategy will be announced later this autumn in an
effort to do "whatever it takes'' to tackle the drugs problem head-on.

To date pounds 110m has been invested or committed in community groups,
sports and youth clubs and rehabilitation programmes directly aimed at
purging the capital's drug scourge. The Government now says it is prepared
to spend considerable resources in the coming three years to ensure even
more is done to clean up our streets.

The new anti-drugs project was prepared by a Cabinet sub-committee and
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has taken a personal interest.

Details of the programme's budget are still not clear, but it is understood
that the new strategy, with a revamped drugs task force and firm spending
commitments from the Government, will involve considerable financial
investment.

Junior Minister Eoin Ryan, who has special responsibility for the National
Drugs Strategy, said yesterday the Government was looking at new ways to
tackle the problem.

``It is very easy to set up clubs. The people who come are not the problem,
it is the people who don't. We need to get out and get these people,
especially the younger generation, and get them involved,'' he said.