COMMUNITIES URGED TO PROVIDE FOR DRUG ABUSERS

Communities must take responsibility for the provision of local services
for drug abusers in their own area, the Minister of State for Local
Development has said.

Mr Chris Flood said that despite communities' concerns about "drug misusers
loitering in their areas", the experience of his Department was that the
provision of local treatment services resulted in a reduction in crime and
the development of the community.

"Only clients from the community are seen in local treatment centres and
individual users have to enter into a contract with the Eastern Health
Board regarding personal behaviour within the treatment location and its
immediate confines," he said.

Mr Flood was speaking at the launch of the Eastern Health Board's programme
of events for European Drug Prevention Week, which continues until November
23rd.

Mr P.J. Fitzpatrick, the board's chief executive, said the EHB was
recruiting staff and consulting with local communities in the hope of
starting drug treatment services in nine further locations in the near
future. He said an additional 16 drug treatment locations had been put in
place this year, bringing the number of centres to 40.

At present there are 3,920 clients registered on the Central Patient
Treatment List. Of these, 867 are being treated by GPs. The number of GPs
prescribing methadone treatment in the EHB area has increased from 35 in
January 1996 to 94 at present. The number of pharmacists dispensing
methadone has more than trebled since January 1997, from 35 to 112.

The board's programme includes a range of activities designed to generate
awareness about drugs and related issues among young people and their
parents. A drugs prevention video Let's Talk Drugs with Parents, developed
jointly by the EHB and the National Parents' Council, is aimed at helping
parents detect signs of drug use and recognise "the situations where their
children may be lured into the drugs culture". Information sessions for
parents will also be held throughout the region. Some 40 primary schools
participating in the Substance Misuse Prevention Programme will receive a
CD resource pack as part of the drug prevention programme.

A Certificate of Addiction Studies devised in association with the National
University of Ireland, Maynooth, will be launched in Ballyfermot in Dublin
tomorrow, along with a drugs information network and newsletter for the area.

A one-day drugs awareness course will be held in St Patrick's Institution
as part of a continuing education programme. Yesterday, nightclub staff who
completed a 10-week "Safer Dancing Course" run by the board were presented
with their certificates. The course was devised with the aim of "assisting
club staff to recognise situations where drugs may be a factor and give
them appropriate skills in harm reduction".

A conference to be held in Wicklow will highlight the role tenants' and
residents' associations can play in drug prevention. Bray Urban District
Council held a conference on the role local groups could play last Friday.
The Kildare/West Wicklow Drugs Awareness/Information website will also be
launched this week.

Literature will be distributed in shopping centres, health centres and
libraries, and a school poster competition will be held as part of the
week's programme. Youth services, schools, agencies and arts and drama
groups will also organise activities. The health board has provided funding
to a number of other voluntary and community groups to organise specific
events.

The National Parents' Council said that "the suggestion of legalising
so-called 'soft drugs' or mechanisms for testing the quality of the drugs
which implied that such drugs are acceptable and safe must be firmly
rejected".

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski