National committee formed to address alcohol and substance abuse

THE growth in alcohol and substance abuse resulted in a national committee being formed, which in turn has led to a decision that every club must now have an ASAP officer (alcohol an substance prevention).
Munster ASAP officer, Diarmuid Gowan from Cork and the first chairman of the national committee, Joe Connolly, the former Galway All-Ireland winning hurling captain addressed the meeting. They were introduced to the gathering by the Clare ASAP officer, Des Crowe who is also the assistant county board secretary.
“This is a local problem and it’s there whether we like it or not,” Connolly told delegates. “Don’t anybody tell me that the villages and the parishes of Clare don’t have a problem with underage drinking and drugs abuse. It’s there on the ground whether we like it or not. We did in our time what our age group was doing and we gave it stick in our own way but it has gone on a lot from that since to a real serious problem. We all know about drink but drugs is a real problem everywhere in the country and what this is about is informing at local level about the local problem. It is for the ASAP officer at local level together with the local doctor and the local garda to meet with the parents in the local hall and educate them as to what an ecstasy tablet looks like and as to what and where youngsters are drinking. It is about informing people at local level what the local problem is.”
“Our youngsters need a lot of help and this programme can be of great help at local level,” the Galway man added
“This is all about prevention,” Gowan told the meeting. All the clubs have been developing their response to the threat posed to members by alcohol and substance abuse. Over 1,000 ASAP officers have been appointed. It is not the GAA’s job to sort out Ireland’s drug and alcohol problem. The vast majority of clubs don’t have problems and every club must try to make sure that this remains the case. Prevention is the key word. Some clubs need encouragement to focus on the issues,” the Cork man said.