The Government has its “head stuck in the sand” in relation to drugs and needs to appoint a dedicated junior minister to drive responses, including new laws on legal tranquillisers, Sinn Féin TD for Cork City, Jonathan O’Brien, has said.
He said the Government does not “see the urgency” in bringing in long-awaited regulations to control the sale and possession of tranquillisers such as benzodiazepines, and z-drugs, which are sleeping tablets. The call comes as figures show the number of people seeking treatment for benzodiazepines as their main drug of abuse jumped from 261 in 2009 to 719 in 2013 (up 175%).
Benzodiazepines were involved in 123 overdose deaths, or 35% of all poisonings, in 2012. Z-drugs, which are hypnotics, were implicated in a further 27 deaths.
Government proposals to control the sale and possession of these legal drugs were drafted in 2013 by the Department of Health, in response to growing concerns at the problem, but have not yet been introduced.
“I don’t see the urgency there in the Government regarding the regulations,” said Mr O’Brien. “The Government has its head stuck in the sand. It needs to put someone in charge of drugs, a dedicated minister of state.”
Former drugs minister Róisín Shortall, who signed off on regulations in 2012, has said the “political will” didn’t appear to be there to push the matter.
Source: Cormac O'Keeffe, Irish Examiner, 13/04/15
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