Anti-drugs group is critical of Government strategy

The rescinding of the Public Order Act to allow anti-drugs marches and reform of the Garda Complaints Board are among the measures recommended in a policy document from one of the State's largest anti-drugs organisations.

"Facing The Future: Policy 2000", published by the Coalition Of Communities Against Drugs (COCAD), was launched in Dublin last night by Minister of State Mr Eoin Ryan, who is chairman of the National Drugs Strategy.

Founded in 1996, COCAD is an umbrella organisation of community-based, anti-drugs groups.

The document places heavy emphasis on the role of local community groups in tackling the drugs problem and is in places highly critical of Government policy. It describes as "unacceptable" that "the communities most seriously affected by the problem of drug abuse should not be represented on the Government Advisory Committee on Drugs.

"The record of COCAD in highlighting and articulating the concerns of these communities entitles it to representation."

It says the Government-established local drugs task forces have made "little progress . . . developing integrated, strategic approaches to the drugs problem at local level and the extent to which inter-agency co-operation has been enhanced is questionable".

Elements of Garda policy on tackling local drugs problems are described as a "disservice to affected communities" while the dispersal of drug sellers "through low-level enforcement" could be beneficial, it maintains.

Mr Ryan said he would not respond to individual recommendations at last night's event. "I can assure you, however, that all the areas covered in the policy document are being addressed in the review of the National Drugs Strategy, which I hope to have completed in the autumn."

The document says the democratic accountability of the Garda Siochana "needs to be addressed", adding that effective policing required community support. In this light, it recommends an "urgent reform of the Garda Complaints Board, which enjoys little credibility in our communities".

COCAD says it recognises the contribution methadone maintenance can make to stabilising an addict but stresses that methadone-based treatment should not be seen as an end in itself.