Drug strategy to target alcohol

ALCOHOL is a far bigger menace in Irish society than illegal drugs and tackling the problem will form a key part of a new National Drug Strategy to be launched later this year, a government minister has said.

Minister of State at the Department of Health, Roisín Shortall, who was speaking at the launch of a mobile primary care clinic for homeless people and street workers, commended the Irish Examiner’s special investigation of the country’s relationship with drink.

“We have a very serious problem with drug addiction in this country, but we also have to examine our own attitude to alcohol. Alcohol is very often a gateway to illegal drug use, but there is also a huge number of people who never touch illegal drugs but have a huge problem with alcohol,” she said.