CONFIDENTIAL SERVICE TO DEAL WITH DRUGS PROBLEM URGED

The Midland Health Board will be asked later this month to set up a
confidential telephone line for parents worried about their children
becoming involved with drugs.

The proposal came from the Laois-Offaly TD John Moloney, who believes if
the drug problem is not faced up to in rural Ireland, it will destroy the
fabric of society.

"I want a telephone help centre staffed by professionals, including the
gardai, where parents can get and give confidential information on drug
dealers in the area," he said.

Moloney, who has been highlighting the growing drug problem in the
midlands, said his fears were confirmed at the Garda conference in Co
Donegal last week.

"I have been saying for a long time that there is a drugs problem of one
kind or another in every village and town in rural Ireland and the gardai
confirmed that last week.

"I do not want to be seen as jumping on a bandwagon because this is too
serious an issue to play politics or anything else with, but I know this to
be true and it was the most common fear expressed to myself and other
people out on the canvass during the local government election campaign,"
he said.

"There is a big problem out there, especially with `E'.

"I know that in the Eastern Health Board area, they say that things would
be much better if they had got ahead of the problem of heroin before it
became so bad in the area.

"I believe that all the resources of the State should be put behind
resolving this problem before it gets out of hand." He said he would be
proposing a confidential telephone line where parents could check the names
of known dealers if they feared their children had become involved in drugs.

"I also want more support for the gardai. I want the local guard to have
more back up in the fight against drugs," he said.

Mr Moloney said a special report on the abuse of substances in the midlands
is being prepared for members of the Midland Health Board for consideration
at the next meeting.