Drugs: media is playing catch-up

THE launch of the National Drugs Awareness Strategy has to be welcomed, as does the media coverage that has accompanied it. However, I feel the media may be arriving a little late to the issue.

In 2005, I was chair of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Sport, Tourism, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs that launched its seventh report entitled The Treatment of Cocaine Addiction with Particular Reference to the Irish Experience.

This report received little media coverage at the time, even though it dealt with an issue that was of profound importance.

The report included information on the consequences of cocaine use, the usage of cocaine in Ireland and the Irish experience of managing cocaine addiction. It made recommendations for preventative strategies and evidence-based treatment.

The report was grounded in exhaustive research, with many hours put in by the members of the committee prior to its publication.

The level of expertise and work that goes into reports compiled by Oireachtas committees is vast.

These committees are working on behalf of the Irish people, and as such their work deserves greater, and less cynical, coverage.

It is fantastic that the National Drugs Awareness Strategy is receiving such vast media coverage. The issue of drugs deserves our full attention at all times.

Senator Cecelia Keaveney

Leinster House

Kildare Street

Dublin 2