I don't think I'll ever forget the first time I met a 10-year old who was obviously drunk. His breath smelt strongly of alcohol and his behaviour indicated that he—. His risk taking and cockiness was a clear sign of his inebriation. I don't think that minimum alcohol pricing is going to be of assistance to a child like this, because they're never going to be able to actually buy the alcohol themselves, but it does tell you about how, in some households, the level of supervision is so poor that they're not in a position to prevent their child from getting this drunk. Obviously, in many cases, their parents are also addicted to alcohol or drugs and that poses huge questions for any child who finds themself living in a household like that. So, therefore, I just want to point out that it is of concern and we should all be concerned that over 400 referrals last year were for 10 to 14-year-olds.  

I very much welcome the work of the SchoolBeat by the community support officers in schools. We know that alcohol is everywhere, particularly at this time of year, and we obviously have to educate children on how we manage our relationship with alcohol, particularly at this time of the year when alcohol is absolutely everywhere and people are being widely encouraged to abuse alcohol—and well over the guidelines of 14 units—and the fact that throughout the year there are far too many people consuming abusive levels of alcohol and this is reflected in the cancer and liver disease statistics that the health service has to deal with. 

I suppose that one of the concerns I wanted to raise today is the fact that youth workers in my constituency are reporting that young people are much more inclined at the moment to be using drugs rather than alcohol, and, particularly, the consumption of Spice—these synthetic cannabinoids—is a considerable cause for concern, because the cocktail of amphetamines and other substances that drug dealers cook up in their back kitchens, both to increase their profits and to hook a new generation of addicts, must be extremely difficult to track. It's extremely disturbing to see young people in a state of collapse in the city centre of Cardiff and this has been recently well-documented in the local media. One Cardiff user reported that spice had taken over their life: 'It's like heroin; you just lose a grip on reality.'

A Cardiff drug dealer told WalesOnline that, working in Adamsdown or the city centre, they could make £300 an hour. So, you can see the difficulties that the police are working with to try and control this problem. Unfortunately, this, obviously, is reflected in the nearly 50 per cent increase in cannabinoid-related admissions to hospital over the last four years. I strongly applaud the operation of WEDINOS, which is constantly testing the new psychoactive substances, because, clearly, we cannot protect people unless we know what it is they are taking, and we need to be constantly ahead of the game that drug dealers are up to.

Clearly, it's more complicated as a picture than just young people who are desperate to drown their sorrows. As Dai Lloyd has already said, I'm a trustee and director of the Living Room in Cardiff. Addiction isn't just an affliction of the desperately poor. Many Living Room clients are people who are holding down responsible jobs; they're doctors, they're vicars and other professionals who find the emotional demands of the job are encouraging them to use drugs or alcohol as a release from the pressures and the burden of the job that they're carrying.

I absolutely applaud the meticulous and persistent work that needs to go on for anybody who is working in treatment services. I note that there are 15 per cent of people who do not attend before a treatment has started, or people fall out of it before treatment has begun following assessment. That is because people are terrified of having to deal with the demons in their lives that have led them into this addiction in the first place. But I think the report is very clear on the challenges ahead, and it's a complex and very difficult problem.