NUMBER OF TEENAGERS USING DRUGS DECREASING, SAYS REPORT

The number of teenagers experimenting with drugs has fallen from 37pc
to 32pc in the last four years, according to a new report.

Minister of State with special responsibility for the National Drugs
Strategy, Eoin Ryan, said the trend among 16-year-olds is revealed in
the report of the National Advisory Committee on Drugs.

The review, written by Dr Mark Morgan of St Patrick's College,
Drumcondra, is based on research of drug misuse and prevention
programmes in Ireland and the international context from the 1960s to
present day.

The fall off in experimentation with drugs is similar to a drop in the
UK although most other European countries are noting an opposite trend.

"Drug misuse presents complex problems, but the most serious drug
problem in Ireland involves opiates and is largely associated with
social and economic deprivation," he said.

It showed alcohol, tobacco and inhalants are contributing factors
leading to the misuse of drugs.

The report stressed the need to raise public awareness about the
importance of deprivation as a pre-disposing factor to the misuse of
drugs. Parent/child dynamics were also cited as contributing factors.

The minister said drug prevention programmes must work in partnership
with schools, community groups, families and youth groups.

The national drugs strategy aims to bring misuse of drugs by
schoolgoers to below the EU average and as a first step to reduce the
level of misuse by this group by 15pc by 2003 and 25pc by 2007.