ADVISORY COMMITTEE LAUNCHED TO ADDRESS DRUGS CRISIS

The Government has announced a new drugs advisory committee to tackle
the country's growing crisis.

Junior Minister Eoin Ryan made the announcement yesterday after the
Merchant Quay project revealed that drug abuse in Dublin has increased
by 28% in one year.

The national advisory committee will hold its inaugural meeting in
September and will oversee a three-year research project designed to
help the Government tackle the abuse of heroin and other hard drugs.

With an annual budget of pounds 1 million the programme will examine
all areas of drug misuse under the headings of prevalence, prevention,
treatment and research.

The committee will be chaired by Dr Des Corrigan, Head of the School
of Pharmacy at Trinity College and the Chairman of the Dun Laoghaire
Drugs Task Force.

Mr Ryan has also revealed that funding for the various drugs task
forces under the National Drugs Strategy will be increased from pounds
10 million to pounds 15 million under the next round.

The rest of the 20-strong committee is comprised of experts from the
statutory, community, voluntary, academic and research sectors.
Government Departments are also represented.

Mr Ryan has decided that all the information and research which is
gathered will be channelled through the Health Research Board.

Further funds will be made available to allow the setting up of
National Database on Drugs Research which will be made available to
policy making bodies and the general public.

"The new National Advisory Committee will make a very valuable
contribution to the development of drugs policy in Ireland by
providing a more focused and integrated approach to the analysis and
interpretation of data," Mr Ryan said.

Mr Ryan said that much of the pounds 1 billion earmarked for social
inclusion measures in the new National Development Plan will be used
to tackle the drugs crisis.

Already, the Local Drugs Task Force programmes have set up more than
50 support centres.