Minister for Higher Education Mary Mitchell O’Connor has launched a new taskforce to deal with drug use in higher education.
The taskforce, which features a Trinity professor, will see a panel of experts carry out research on drug use, will devise an action plan to deal with the problem of drug use at third-level education.
The panel will be chaired by Dr Andrew Power, Registrar and Vice-President of Equality and Diversity at the Institute of Art, Design and Technology.
Dr Jo-Hanna Ivers, an assistant professor in addiction in Trinity, will serve on a taskforce that also includes academics and HSE staff.
In a press statement, Mitchell O’Connor said: “I have spent a huge amount of time meeting students, their parents and the people working at all levels in our higher education institutions.”
“From all these discussions, it became clear to me that while some good work is being done at institution level, we were not doing enough in a planned and joined up way across the sector to counteract the negative impact of drug and substance abuse.
“Some students are suffering serious harm. Some are dying and lives are shattered. We all have a responsibility to protect and educate students and parents.”
Earlier this month, a group in University College Cork planning to give out drug-testing kits to students were refused permission to do so by the college’s authorities.
EchoLive.ie reported that UCC Students for Sensible Drug Policy Society, which lobbies for harm-reduction measures around drug usage, had planned to provide students with single-use test kits this week.
At this year’s Trinity Ball, 26 students were detained and searched by undercover Gardaí on suspicion of drug possession and supplying.
At the time, the Irish Sun reported that €1,400 worth of drugs were seized by officers posing as students. The drugs seized included cocaine, ketamine and MDMA.
Three were searched on suspicion of possessing drugs with intent to supply and the 21 others on suspicion of possessing drugs.
Of those searched, two possessed no drugs. Twenty detainees were male and six were female. One of those arrested is a medical student, according to the Irish Sun.
The presence of sniffer dogs at the ball caused controversy at the ball. Trinity Ents later confirmed that, while the ball area would be searched by sniffer dogs under the direction of the Garda Drug Squad in advance of the event, no such dogs would be present for the event itself.
