Positively Dublin 12 Month secured commitment from Minister of State, John Curran with Special Responsibility for Substance Misuse at Dublin 12 stakeholder conference to tackle the drug issue in the locality.

 

Key opinion leaders including Tony Geoghegan from Merchants Quay Ireland, Dr Margaret Bourke, GP Co-ordinator and Sadie Grace from the National Family Support Network took part in the plenary session. Johnny Connolly from the Health Research Board and Anna Quigley from City Wide give an external perspective on the issue of drug misuse and how best to address the issue collaboratively. Education and drugs misuse prevention was also discussed at the conference.

 

The Dublin 12 Local Drugs Task Force fully supports Social, Personal and Health Education (S.P.H.E.) in schools which delivers drug education to second level students. Evidence based research both nationally and internationally supports S.P.H.E’s methodology, other approaches including school visits by ex-drug users has not been proven to be effective and as such is not a viable approach.

 

Aoife Fitzgerald, Co-ordinator of the Dublin 12 Local Drugs Task Force said, ‘Despite the economic downturn and devastating budget cuts, it was clear from the conference yesterday that Dublin 12’s agencies and communities are still totally committed to addressing the problem of drug misuse in the area.’