MINISTER WARNS OF A DRUGS PROBLEM IN EVERY PARISH

THE Minister charged with co ordinating the Government’s response to the
drugs problem revealed yesterday that his own children had been offered
drugs.

“I know because they told me,” said Chris Flood, the Minister of State at
the Department of Tourism, Sport and Recreation, who has four children, aged
between 16 and 23. “Of course they have been offered drugs when they were
out socialising. I have often talked to them about the problem.”

Earlier, Mr Flood had addressed the Joint Committee on European Affairs on
the progress made by the Government in tackling the drug problem since
coming into office.

He said that every parent should realise their children would be confronted
at some stage or another with the choice of getting involved in the misuse
of drugs or not.

The problem had now spread to every parish in the country, said Mr Flood,
who described cigarettes and alcohol as the gateway to drugs.

Earlier, Independent TD Tony Gregory asked why the Department of Education
still refused to be represented on any to the Local Drugs Task Forces
established in areas of the country experiencing the highest levels of drug
misuse. The areas, 12 of which are in Dublin, are characterised by high
levels of heroin abuse.

Mr Gregory said he could not understand why the department was not
represented on the task forces given its critical role in tackling the
problem of heroin abuse and social deprivation.

Fianna Fail’s Pat Carey said he was mystified as to why the Department of
Education was not represented on the task forces.

Mr Flood said that, unfortunately, while most of the other agencies involved
in the task forces had local structures, the department did not. He had met
the Minister for Education and Science, Micheal Martin, in an effort to
overcome the problem.

He pointed out that the Vocational Educational Committees were playing a
leading role in the task forces in developing new and imaginative ways of
responding to the drug problem.