The bureaucratic obsession with management objectives is undermining efforts to combat drug misuse, according to the head of the Southern Regional Drug Task Force.
Chairman Peadar King said this zeal has spawned its own "management speak", peppered with words such as "organisational outputs, performance indicators, service users", etc.
He made the comments in the task force’s report for 2011, which said alcohol, cannabis, and benzodiazepines were the "major presenting issues" last year.
The report warned of emerging issues during the year, including oxycontin, a prescription painkiller, in Killarney, and a rise in the use of "powders" in Tralee.
The report also found a rise in the use of illegal drugs, namely cannabis, as well as anti-depressants.
In his introduction, Mr King took a swipe at the emphasis on "bureaucratic management", which he said had increased exponentially in the last three years.
"The current obsession with the relentless pursuit of these new managerial objectives, in my view, conflicts with and undermines the core work of the task force, which ought to be the care and nurturing of the individuals and communities who are adversely affected by drug misuse," he said.
Mr King said it was not more surveillance, demands for accountability, or inquisitorial investigations that were needed, but a "culture of learning" with an "openness to the frailties" of the human condition.
Source: Cormac O'Keeffe, Irish Examiner, 02/10/12
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