Northern Ireland Health Minister Bairbre de Brun has said fighting drug misuse will be one of her top priorities.

She was speaking after Wednesday's announcement that she is to be the new coordinator of the drugs strategy for Northern Ireland.

Sinn Fein's Ms de Brun said: "Tackling drug misuse and the harm it causes to individuals and communities is an important priority.

"We need to make sure that young people in particular are aware of the dangers of drug misuse and that parents, teachers, doctors and others have the skills to deal sensitively with the subject.

"I also want to ensure that those with drug dependency problems receive appropriate and sympathetic treatment, support and counselling.

"I will be working closely with my executive colleagues to ensure that all departments with a role to play, work in a co-ordinated and concentrated manner to reduce the harm that is caused by drugs.

"An early priority will be to allocate resources to local projects which support the new drug strategy.

"These have been under consideration by a cross-departmental group of officials and it should be possible to make decisions in the near future.

It was agreed by the health committee that the minister should take the lead role on behalf of the executive, working with other relevant ministers, overseeing the work of the central co-ordinating committee.

Strategy implementation

Her appointment has highlighted the issue of whether Ms de Brun would deal directly with the RUC which is one of the many partners involved in the strategy's implementation.

The department of health has said the minister and executive committee can only take direct responsibility for devolved issues such as health and education aspects of drugs misuse.

The department said the need for coordination with the Northern Ireland Office and others on reserved matters such as stemming the availability of drugs is recognised as vital and the minister would be looking at how this coordination might best be achieved.

The Northern Ireland drugs strategy is a five year initiative. Its overall aim is to reduce drug-related harm in Northern Ireland.

It involves a number of sectors working together including government departments, the Health Promotion Agency, the RUC, Customs and Excise and drug professionals.

The Ulster Democratic Party has welcome Ms de Brun's appointment.

The party's Gary Michael said: "The appointment of Bairbre de Brun as minister responsible for the NI drug strategy is a welcome development because there has been no ministerial control for this issue for the past two months.

"Whether Ms de Brun is the right person for this task is a question that will be answered soon enough.

"I have raised concerns that Sinn Fein's policy on the RUC would result in de Brun refusing to chair the government co-ordinating body on drugs, the CCGAAD, because the RUC is represented on it.