There was never going to be a simple solution to resolve the drugs problem, as the events of the European Drugs Prevention Week are already making clear. The prevention of drug abuse has to be a component part of social programmes, school curicula, anti-crime activities, the provision of recreational facilities, parenting support programmes, and (in areas and communities devastated by the results of drug addiction) almost every programme and activity undertaken. The most prevalent forms of substance abuse - alcohol and tobacco consumption - have not yet been satisfactorily dealt with in this State, and still cause huge numbers of deaths and much human misery each year. Small wonder, then, that the abuse of other dangerously addictive substances such as heroin has run riot in various (largely urban) areas of the State.
There are signs, however, that some progress can be made towards the elimination of drug abuse. The Criminal Assets Bureau has been strikingly impressive in sequestering the proceeds of major criminal drug-dealing activities. The more recent Operation Cleanstreets is proving effective in identifying local smaller drug-dealers. Thus, in the control of crime, anti-drugs measures seem to be getting more effective, at least in dealing with the supply side of the problem. But the demand side is more complex and more difficult to deal with and here a great variety of social interventions is required.
It has taken some time to recognise the value of involving local communities directly in preventive activities but positive local involvement is now being seen as an essential component of many preventive measures, gaining support for local treatment programmes for the addicts and providing assistance to the families immediately affected by a drug-abusing family member. It hardly needs to be said that there should be no place in local community support organisations for the kind of vigilante activities that occurred in some city streets and housing estates some years ago: effective drugs-prevention programmes must be a great deal more positive than that.
There is still much progress to be made in the provision of a living environment in which individuals can find some measure of self-esteem and escape the alienation and isolation which too often characterise the person who would become a drug-abuser.
Recommendations have been made for the provision of sporting and other recreational facilities in areas where drug abuse is rife or is likely to become so, but there is little sign of the necessary implementation of these recommendations. And while progress has been made locally in the setting up of anti-drugs teams and treatment facilities, there is still a great deal more to be done in this regard.
Unquestionably, people are becoming more aware of the nature and complexity of the drugs problem. Harm-reduction programmes are slowly emerging in an effort to protect drug-takers from the more lethal aspects of their activities. Treatment programmes to get addiction under control and, hopefully, the addict into a drug-free existence still need to be more prevalent and more effective. Yet there are signs that despair may be eroded by hope as people and communities become more aware of the reality of drug abuse and how to tackle it more successfully. In this, the current week of increasing awareness of the realities of the problem of drugs can only be of benefit.