The State is "sleepwalking" through an escalating drugs crisis, an Oireachtas committee heard yesterday.
Labour deputy Brian O'Shea told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Sport, Tourism, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs that the State needed to intervene when young people were exposed to drugs by their parents.
He said parents were casually exposing their children to cocaine and alcohol in the home. Cannabis was "just accepted" at student parties, and cocaine was being openly consumed in nightclubs.
Fine Gael deputy Damien English said the State had failed to deal with the issue. "Things are getting worse, not better." Drug dealers were "way ahead" of the Garda and were laughing at its inadequate resources.
"If we don't cop ourselves on we will have a drugs culture bigger than any other culture."
The committee again called for alcohol to be included in the next national substance misuse strategy.
Noel Ahern, Minister of State with responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy, said a working group was meeting for the first time yesterday to discuss this issue.
He said drug taskforces in rural areas may be more open to the inclusion of alcohol in a new strategy because of the problem of teenage binge-drinking.
He said there was some confusion around why there were separate strategies to deal with illegal drugs and drinking. However, drug taskforces in urban areas may fear that the drugs problem would be overshadowed by alcohol issues if alcohol was included in the strategy.
Committee chairwoman Cecilia Keaveney (FF) said there needed to be greater analysis of why young people took drugs.
Fine Gael Senator Frank Feighan called for more CCTV cameras to dissuade drug dealers.
