SHOCK! Tipperary councillor reveals drug taking now starting in primary schools

Children in primary schools are using drugs, Cllr Fiona Bonfield told the February meeting of Nenagh Municipal District Council.

She made her remarks following a call by Cllr Seamus Morris for the council to take the lead on drug education for students heading off to Third Level colleges.

“There is a lack of preparation for children going to college, a lack of education,” he said. “It is shocking to see young people taking crack cocaine.”

Cllr Morris suggested that the district council through Tipperary ETB could be to the forefront in leading the issue.

He claimed there had been open drug dealing on the streets of Galway during college rag week, and that one student had collapsed in Limerick after taking drugs.

However, he said it was not just a question of warning about the dangers of drug taking, it was also about letting students know what to do if someone collapses from drugs.

“There’s everything available from horse tranquilisers to crack cocaine,” said Cllr Morris.

Cllr Bonfield said it was all down to having gardaí on the beat and enforcement and that drug taking was now happening in primary schools.

She said the issue was due to be discussed by the Citizens’ Assembly in April.

“Drugs are an absolute nightmare,” declared Cllr John “Rocky” McGrath. “They are the curse of all time.”

He said that drugs were a “plague in every village and every school”.

Cllr Ger Darcy said that if anyone had any doubt about the drugs issue, he pointed out that the gardaí had seized an estimated 100kgs of cocaine in recent weeks.

Cllr Joe Hannigan supported a role for the council and the ETB, saying “education is the key”.

Following the meeting, Cllr Bonfield said: “There are some who think we can solve the issue of drugs through criminal sanction. It can’t work and it hasn’t worked anywhere.”

She said that drug addiction needed to be treated as a health issue, not a legal matter.

“Despite the ample evidence suggesting that giving someone a criminal record for possession of drugs for personal use is an ineffective way to get them to stop using, in Ireland, you can be jailed for up to seven years for possession of an illicit drug for personal use.

“The criminal record itself, which can result in barriers to employment, travel, and relationships, can end up doing more harm to the individual than their drug use,” said Cllr Bonfield.

She said that drugs and harmful drug use was an unfortunate feature of every community nationwide, and Tipperary was no different.

The Labour Party was advocating for a community-based health-led alternative response to be adopted to target the adverse health, social and economic consequences of drug use, said Cllr Bonfield.

“Now is also the time to put more resources into addressing the root causes of drug addiction, so that we can help individuals and communities whose daily lives are blighted by drugs.

“We need to protect vulnerable users in Tipperary and help them move away from harmful drug use,” she said.