Debate contribution: Addiction and Drug-related Deaths

Debate contribution by Mrs Diane Dodds on 23 April 2024.

MLA

Mrs Diane Dodds

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

23 April 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Addiction and Drug-related Deaths

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4485208

Read the official Assembly record

Text

As the previous Member did, I offer my sincere condolences to those who have lost loved ones. I thank the proposer of the motion for the beautiful poem, which describes the chaos and difficulties of someone caught in the trap of addiction. I start by reflecting on the number of drug deaths in Northern Ireland and the fact that we have seen an explosion in those deaths over the past 10 or 15 years. We have seen a 98% increase in drug-related deaths since 2012. In 2022, there were 154 drug-related deaths, which represents a 40% increase from 2014. In 2022, the underlying causes of 82·5% of drug-related deaths were substances that are controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, with heroin and morphine being the most prevalent ones listed. Those statistics are taken from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) report that was recently released. In 2022, two thirds of those who suffered from drug-related deaths were men. That is a really sad reflection on society and the increasing use of drugs, but it would be remiss of us not to say today that we all support removing the scourge of drug dealers from our communities. They bring nothing but pain and death. It is incredibly important that we look at that. The proposer of the motion rightly spent her time reflecting on some of the stories and the humanity behind drug misuse and addiction. I will look at some of the strategies and the wider areas that we, as policymakers, also need to look at and reflect on. Mr Chambers mentioned the Preventing Harm, Empowering Recovery strategy, on which a report was published last month. In that most recent report, 33 actions — 58% — are currently set as green, so they are progressing as planned, which is good news in many ways. However, 24% are not and are set as amber, since they require the confirmation of additional funding. Before the restoration of devolution, I attended a meeting with community groups whose funding has been cut. One issue that was cited was the fact that community groups that deal with drug addiction and the misuse of drugs have had a lot of their funding cut. We need to look at restoring that. I appreciate, Minister, and understand the difficulties. That is why I support the amendment, because that issue is very important. We also need to look at how we prevent and tackle the issue by trying to get it at source before it becomes a huge problem. In 2020, the Northern Ireland Audit Office (NIAO) report, 'Addiction Services in Northern Ireland', showed that the Department of Health spends £900 million each year on tackling drug and alcohol misuse but only a small budget is allocated to combating the issue: £8 million for implementing the drug and alcohol strategy and £8 million for statutory addiction services. I suggest that, if we are to prevent the huge amount of money that the health service spends on that very important issue, we need to get into the prevention space much more quickly and effectively.

Yes, of course.

Thank you. I absolutely agree that it is totally key and extremely important. To close, I will speak a little about dual diagnosis. That term is used to describe the concurrence of a mental health problem alongside substance misuse. It is a significant issue for the health service. Up to 70% of people in drug services and 86% in alcohol services also experience mental health problems. It is really important that we look at and deal with the issue of dual diagnosis. Many of those people are young. Between 64% and 88% of adolescents with substance misuse disorders have at least one co-existing mental health issue. Therefore —

Yes. Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for allowing me to go on. We need greater coordination between the services, and I appeal for the Minister to look at that as well.

660 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:03 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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