Sinn Féin TD Ann Graves has said that the government “cannot be allowed” to exclude local and regional drug and alcohol task forces from the new National Drug Strategy.
The Dublin Fingal East TD said, “drug task forces have been central to the delivery of every National Drug Strategy since 1997; any attempt to relegate them will be resisted.”
She stated that Ireland’s drug policy is currently “a throwback to the dark days of the 1990s” when the Health Boards controlled funding for drug services.
Graves, who serves as Sinn Féin’s spokesperson on national drug and alcohol strategy, addiction, recovery and wellbeing, has held a number of roundtable meetings with task forces and community drug services, and said there are “deep and genuine concerns” that they are being frozen out of the process.
“I held a number of roundtable discussions yesterday and today with task forces and community drug services; it is very clear there are deep and genuine concerns about the new National Drug Strategy. Sinn Féin is absolutely committed to working with others to defend the drug and alcohol task forces.”
“Any attempt to relegate task forces will be actively resisted,” she stated.
She said that the government’s current policy of freezing out local and regional drug and alcohol task forces is “relegating them to a footnote” and said the plan, as it stands, “cannot be allowed to happen.”
Graves said that the local and regional task forces are an “essential part of tackling the causes and consequences of the drugs crisis,” and noted that they have been involved in the delivery of every National Drug Strategy since 1997.
She criticised the National Drug Strategy’s new aim of centralising funding and putting decision-making in the hands of the HSE.
She said that approach did not work in the 1990s, and it will not work now.
“In those times, communities mobilised, got organised and established their own community based drug projects; these projects stood the test of time and developed to meet the changing demands of the drugs crisis,” she said.
“Over the last 30 years, drug task forces working in partnership with other agencies drew up local plans for their respective communities. They have been able to respond quickly to the needs of the communities they worked in. This has been a huge advantage over the previous health board models.”
Graves said the current plan being drawn up by the government “needs to be put in the bin” and the Minister for Health “must engage fully with those on the front line in tackling the drug crisis – anything less is sure to fail.”