Ulster Unionist mental health spokesperson, Robbie Butler MLA, has warned that Northern Ireland appears to be in the midst of deepening addiction crisis.
Robbie Butler said:
“These latest figures on drug deaths come only weeks after it was revealed that alcohol related deaths across Northern Ireland have reached the highest on record.
“Alcohol and drug abuse is an issue that can ruin families and sadly costs lives.
“Until it is recognised that the only way to tackle the problem of underlying addiction problems is to invest in specialist services, then I am really fearful that the problem will only continue to get worse.
“We urgently need a new approach to dealing with drug and alcohol misuse. For instance we are still spending far too much money dealing with a growing number of emergency department admissions, instead of using it to tackle the problem of addiction in the first place.”
