Paul Betts is an imposing figure. A British policeman for 20 years, he has a copper's build and his hair is cut in a short, institutional-type crop. It is, therefore, somewhat alarming to find him striding across the desks in a lecture theatre in DIT Aungier Street, demonstrating the overpowering belief in unassisted human flight which leads some LSD users, however briefly and unsuccessfully, to take to the air and join the birds in flight. From five storeys up.
Betts also does a neat impression of a copper shovelling up the remains of such "fliers" and picking pieces of human pulp from car aerials. When a human body plummets from a height and hits concrete - hits pretty much anything, in fact, other than an inflatable pad or a pile of mattresses - it does not crumple neatly and retain an identifiable human form. It explodes, and it does so with all the messy urgency that flesh and intestines, suddenly released from their thin shell of skin, can muster.
It's interesting to note how quiet the student audience becomes as Betts proceeds. At the start, there was some chatting, some awkward laughter as he tried to get them involved by forcing them to answer elementary questions about the human senses. But by the time he describes holding his daughter Leah in his arms as she died, her brain forced down into the back of her head by the accumulation of fluid in her brain cavity resulting from use of ecstasy, the audience was very quiet indeed.
It's difficult to listen to the Betts, Paul and his wife Janet, without feeling uneasy. Yes, these people have endured a terrible tragedy. Their daughter died as a direct result of the use of an illegal drug and this has given them a deep, personal reason to campaign on drug-related issues.
Yet, at the same time, how suitable does this make them to raise awareness about the issue of illegal drugs? They have become an easy touchstone for the British media - in the event of a drug-related story, contact the Betts - but it could be argued that their loss makes them no more suitable as spokespeople on the drugs issue than the loss of a child in an air crash would make the surviving parents suitable to lecture on aircraft maintenance.
However, in an enclosed setting, such as this DIT lecture theatre, their impact is unquestionable - more personal, more immediate. They do not harp on their daughter's death (though a copy of The Party's Over, the story of her end, is prominently placed on the table behind them). Instead, Paul offers a combination of anecdotes (see fliers above) and medical evidence (there are, apparently, 400 noxious substances in a cannabis spliff, including cyanide), while Janet discusses health issues. They are very impressive, even if one listens to them initially because of their daughter rather than their expertise. The visit of the Betts to the DIT for a series of seminars is part of a concerted effort to raise awareness among students about drug use, not only in the DIT but at third level in general.
Statistical evidence of drug use in the student population is still limited, though the results of a survey by USI are likely to be released next month. Studies in the DIT and UCD by their respective students' unions have indicated significant levels of recreational drug use among students, particularly of cannabis.
According to the DIT survey of 400 students, conducted in April of this year, 64 per cent of those surveyed said they had used illegal drugs. All that 64 per cent said they had used cannabis, 19.3 per cent had used acid/LSD, 18 per cent had used ecstasy and 3.2 per cent had used heroin. Almost 26 per cent said they had only tried illegal drugs once, 21.6 per cent said they used illegal drugs monthly and 9.5 per cent said they used them weekly.
Last year, in an interview with E&L, Dr David Thomas, director of the student health service in TCD, noted "quite a bit of smoking of hash" and some experimentation with ecstasy. While he had encountered students who had become hooked on ecstasy and hash, with unfortunate consequences for their studies, Thomas believed there had been a decline in the use of those drugs generally and that most students stayed away from hard drugs, he said.
"The level of substance abuse is a difficult thing to gauge," admits Susan Lindsay, student counsellor with the DIT. "It's really based on the awareness in our support services; the numbers coming into the health centres are increasing and we are getting students coming in and telling us about their friends."
In addition to ecstasy, cannabis and LSD, there is some evidence of the smoking of heroin by students. "There is a perception among students about heroin addiction, but with smoking it that perception seems to change - there's a belief that smoking's not as bad," Lindsay says. "There is also a fair amount of speed doing the rounds around our colleges," she adds.
The seminars by the Betts mark the first stage in a programme in the DIT on health awareness, while there are moves afoot in third-level colleges to form an agreed policy on drug use among students and how the institutions should respond to it.
"My feeling is that a lot of it seems to be about self-esteem issues," says Lindsay. "Particularly with E, you get the great buzz, this great confidence in yourself. "It's important to raise the level of awareness of other options, even something as simple as getting involved in sport and other areas. Your endorphins can be raised in ways other than drug use and there are other ways of enhancing your selfconfidence. Students sometimes aren't aware of these other options or don't see them as options."
For those who do feel compelled to use drugs, there is the matter of ensuring that they use the available support services; in particular, young men still do not use support services to the same extent as women, a probable contributing factor to the high rate of male suicide. Also, it remains difficult to find suitable treatment centres for students with drug problems.
"We've had difficulties identifying treatment centres suitable for the student population," Lindsay says. Drug-treatment centres catering to heroin addicts are not appropriate for students using speed, E or acid, she explains. "It frightens them, actually, to even go down there." The Betts seminars, she says, are a "first step" in a larger programme. "The one-off lecture is not sufficient," Lindsay says. "It has to be part of a concerted effort."
