Random drug testing for drivers under new plan

RANDOM DRUG testing of motorists will be a key part of the new anti-drugs strategy to be published in September, said Minister of State John Curran.

Alcohol will also be included in the drugs strategy for the first time, and there will be a designated minister dealing with drugs.

Mr Curran told the Oireachtas committee dealing with community affairs that illegal drug use increased from 5.6 per cent of the population in 2003 to 7.2 per cent in 2007 among the 15-64 age group, although greatest usage was among those under 35.

He highlighted the emergence of cocaine as a threat, that “polydrug use” is the norm and that while males are twice as likely to use illegal drugs “the rate of increase among females was significantly higher than among males”.

All committee members welcomed the inclusion of alcohol in the strategy, but Fine Gael community affairs spokesman Michael Ring said “I don’t want alcohol to be the number one priority”.

There are “high profile personalities telling people not to drink and drive” but there were many lives lost over the years “with people taking drugs and driving and to date there is no testing for drugs”.

Mary Upton (Labour, Dublin South Central) warned that “unless the issue of drugs is dealt with at family level, then we are going nowhere”. Children as young as eight are being used as runners for drug dealers and “then going home to a dysfunctional family”. She said the strategy will be a “repeating and recycling effort if families are not taken on board”.

Fine Gael Senator Jerry Buttimer sharply criticised city and county councils and private landlords who were abdicating their responsibilities by allowing tenants to sell drugs in estates.

Labour community affairs spokesman Jack Wall said the Government should have a “hit squad” to assess social welfare applications in areas where “drugs barons” operate because local offices did not have the experience or knowledge to deal with these “thugs” claiming welfare.