Press release
Minister Feighan publishes Mid-term Review of National Drugs Strategy and Strategic Priorities for 2021-2025
From Department of Health
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Health
Published on
Last updated on
Frank Feighan TD, Minister of State for Public Health, Wellbeing and the National Drugs Strategy today published the mid-term review of the national drugs strategy Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery. He also announced the six strategic priorities for the remaining four years of the strategy, 2021-2025.
Minister Feighan said:
“The mid-term review of the strategy shows significant progress in implementing the action plan for the period 2017 to 2020, with only a small number of the 50 actions outstanding. We have improved access and availability of drug services, especially services for women, people who are homeless and those with heroin addiction. There is a new clinical programme for dual diagnosis and the government is championing an alternative health-led approach for the possession of drugs for personal use.”
The Minister continued:
“The mid-term review also looked at the effectiveness of government expenditure on the national drugs strategy, based on key indicators. It estimates the significant costs for society of drug use for the criminal justice system and the economy.”
Minister Feighan said:
“I am announcing six strategic priorities for the remaining years of the strategy until 2025. These will strengthen the health-led approach to drug use, as agreed in the Programme for Government, and align with the EU Drugs Strategy and Action Plan. The first priority is to strengthen the prevention of drug use and its associated harms among children and young people. A second priority is to enhance access and delivery of drug and alcohol services in the community, in line with the Sláintecare population health model of ‘right care, right place, right time’.
“Another priority is to address the social determinants and consequences of drug use and criminality in disadvantaged communities. This requires the involvement and cooperation of a range of government department and agencies in tackling the root causes of drug and alcohol use. It is not acceptable that the lives of families and communities are blighted by the violence and intimidation associated with criminal groups.”
The Minister highlighted the importance of international cooperation to address the drug phenomenon, adding:
“I am working with member states to implement the new EU drugs strategy and action plan 2021-2025. I am also engaged with the member administrations of the British Irish Council to strengthen cooperation and shared learning on common challenges. In particular, I’m advocating collective EU action to reduce the harms associated with drug use to protect and support people who use drugs, so as to reduce and prevent drug-related deaths. I also want to share international best practices in providing alternative to coercive sanctions for drug-related offences, such as the health diversion programme.”
The Minister has revised the oversight structures to drive the implementation of the strategic priorities for 2021-2025. He said:
“I believe that the new structures will strengthen the partnership approach and give a stronger voice to civil society in developing national policy. I am also providing independent leadership to ensure the accountability of all stakeholders and involving service users to provide insights from the lived experience of drug and alcohol addiction.”
The strategic action plan contains 50 actions covering the initial four period (2017-2020) of Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery. The strategy provides for a mid-term review to ensure that the aims and direction continue to be appropriate.
The assessment of expenditure and performance under the strategy, carried out by the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service, is available on the department’s website. The mid-term review is also informed by the results of the national drug and alcohol survey for 2019-2020 and findings of a rapid assessment on the impact of COVID-19 on drug and alcohol services.
The six strategic priorities for the national drugs strategy for 2021-2025 are:
To support the implementation of the strategic priorities, Minister Feighan has provided additional funding of €6m for new health measures in Budget 2022.
The first strategic priority for 2021-2025 is protecting children and young people from drug use and the associated harms. It is aligned with Article 33 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child:
To take all appropriate measures, including legislative, administrative, social and educational measures, to protect children from the illicit use of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances and to prevent the use of children in the illicit production and trafficking of such substances.
This priority will protect children and young people across a variety of school, community and family settings by increasing resilience and strengthening life skills and healthy life choices. It will be informed by the European Prevention Curriculum and the International Standards on Drug Use Prevention.
The second priority is to enhance community care for people who use drugs by providing health and social care services at the community level to meet identified health needs. This will be supported though the development of a drug services care plan formulated on the basis of the new six health regions agreed by Government in 2019. Particular focus will be put on ensuring access to services for women, people in rural areas, ethnic minorities and the LGBTI+ community.
This priority will consider models of care for people who use drugs and have co-morbidities. It will also address the stigma linked to drug use and drug addiction and its impact on access and delivery of health services. This priority meets target 3.5 in the UN Sustainable Development Goals: strengthen the prevention and treatment of substance abuse, including narcotic drug abuse and harmful use of alcohol.
The third priority is to develop integrated care pathways and harm reduction responses for high-risk drug users so as to achieve better health outcomes for people who are homeless, offenders, stimulant users and injecting drug-users. High-risk drug users have complex health and social care needs that make them vulnerable to drug overdose and pre-mature death. Integrated care pathways are required to deliver the best outcomes for this cohort, that connect care settings between GPs, primary/community care providers, community specialist teams and hospital-based specialists.
The experience of the Dublin COVID-19 homeless response provides a template for integrated care. A key outcome indicator will be the reduction in drug deaths. Strengthening harm reduction responses in the night-time economy and festivals, including drug checking, form part of this priority.
The fourth priority recognises the additional challenges arising from drug use in disadvantaged communities, including the Traveller community. This priority will address the underlying social and economic determinants that increase the prevalence of problematic drug and alcohol use in certain communities. It will also tackle the criminality and anti-social behaviour associated with the drug trade that imposes a heavy burden on poor communities. These issues require action across government to promote community development and community safety. Ensuring synergy with the Sláintecare Healthy Communities programme to address health inequalities will be a key objective.
The fifth priority is to reinforce the health-led, rather than criminal justice-led, approach to people who use of drugs and who commit drug-related crimes, such as robbery. The main focus will be on the rollout of the government health diversion programme for people in possession of drugs for personal use, which will offer compassion not punishment. Other initiatives, such as the drug treatment courts, will also be supported. A particular emphasis will be on the exchange of best practice on alternatives to coercive sanctions with EU member states.
Finally, the sixth priority is to strengthen the performance of the strategy though promoting evidence-based and outcomes-focused practices, services, policies and strategy implementation. Learning the lessons of the response to COVID-19 will be a key theme. This priority will also strengthen Ireland’s contribution to best practice at the EU level, in collaboration with the EMCDDA and the HRB Reitox national focal point. It will also identify service innovation from the network of drug and alcohol task forces, especially under the three-year strategic initiatives.