Time to act on drugs and alcohol abuse

STATISTICS have shown that alcohol and drug consumption among Irish youth rose steadily throughout the 1990s and that Ireland currently has one of the most alcohol and drug experienced youth populations in the EU.

In one day this month the Dublin county coroner dealt with five deaths linked to cocaine.

It has been shown that the toxic effects of cocaine are heightened further when combined with alcohol.

We have a major problem with drug and alcohol abuse, and it is about time we faced up to it.

A recent report in Britain showed that teenagers there were in the grip of a sexual health crisis fuelled by a ‘celebrity culture’ that condones alcohol abuse, drug addiction and promiscuity.

A daily diet of celebrities in sexualised poses taking drugs and getting drunk has led to increasing numbers of children ‘defining their lifestyle’ around drugs, alcohol and sex in their early teens, with Britain now having the highest rate of teen pregnancies and sexual infections in Europe, the report stated. We have the same problem here.

The Government should appoint a junior minister with responsibility for the implementation of a national alcohol and drugs policy. We have enough reports — it’s time for action.

Pat Cahill

81 Whitehall Road

Terenure

Dublin 12