Parents, teachers pay to bring drugs experts to schools

SCHOOLS, parents and even teachers are having to pay to get experts into classrooms to talk to students about drugs, a Dáil committee heard yesterday.

The committee also heard claims that local drug task forces (LDTFs) had become too bureaucratic and had forgotten the wider community in which they operated.

Fine Gael TD John O’Mahony told the committee on Arts, Sport and Community Affairs that when he was a teacher there was no funding to get drug experts in under the Social Personal and Health Education (SPHE) course, which was supposed to deal with drug issues.