asked the Minister for Health if she will arrange for a survey to be carried out in the near future on the total drug abuse problem, so that an assessment can be made of the extent of the problem and the means to tackle it.

It is not clear that a survey would improve the quantity or quality of the information at present available about the drug abuse problem.

Information is already available from the National Drug Advisory and Treatment Centre and from the Garda. The adequacy of this information is kept under constant review.

I propose, however, to ask the Coordinating Committee on Drug Abuse, at their next meeting, to consider what further measures might be taken to improve the available information about drug abuse.