Government's new drug strategy risks sidelining communities, warn groups

The Irish Times reports that community organizations are sounding the alarm over the government's new National Drugs Strategy. These groups, which have been on the front lines of addiction support for decades, fear the strategy will dismantle their vital work by centralizing control within the Health Service Executive (HSE) and sidelining local input.

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To consign [the taskforces] to the margins fails to understand the key role [they] have played in informing policy [and] supporting communities, families and individuals caught up in drug addiction.

The strategy's apparent disregard for the link between poverty and drug use, a cornerstone of previous approaches, is particularly concerning. Furthermore, the phasing out of Local Drug and Alcohol Taskforces (DATFs) from policy implementation marks a significant departure from the community-focused approach that has defined efforts to combat addiction. The stark reduction in references to "local" and "community" in the new strategy, compared to its predecessor, underscores this shift.

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will unravel decades of life-saving work

As Aoife Bairéad, spokesperson for the network of local DATFs, stated, marginalizing these taskforces demonstrates a failure to grasp their crucial role in informing policy and supporting those affected by addiction. The call for the Minister of State to halt the current draft and commit to strengthening the taskforces' position highlights the deep-seated concerns within communities that feel their lived experience and on-the-ground efforts are being ignored in favor of a top-down, centralized model.

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fails to make an explicit link between poverty and drug use