EMCDDA: Lifetime drug use becoming more common among Irish adults

[Chip (OP)]

source: https://www.imt.ie/news/emcdda-lifetime-drug-use-becoming-common-among-irish-adults-02-09-2019/

EMCDDA: Lifetime drug use becoming more common among Irish adults



2nd September 2019

Last year prevalence of use of any illicit drug has increased since 2011

Drug use has become more common among the general adult population aged 15 to 64 years in this country over recent years, data from the Ireland Country Drug Report 2019 reveals.

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (2019) Ireland report found that fewer than two in 10 adults reported use of any illicit drug during their lifetime in 2002-03, but this figure increased to approximately three in 10 in 2014-15.

Similarly, last year and last month prevalence of use of any illicit drug increased since the 2011 survey.

The most recent survey, in 2014-15, suggested that cannabis remained the most commonly used illicit drug, followed by 3-4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)/ecstasy and cocaine.

Illicit drug use was more common among men and younger age groups. Among young adults (aged 15-34 years), the prevalence of last year cannabis use was found to have increased in the most recent study.



Estimates of last-year drug use among young adults (15-34 years) in Ireland

Reported last year use of MDMA increased substantially in 2014-15; cocaine use remained stable.

In 2017, around 8,500 clients entered drug treatment, almost 40 per cent of them for the first time and mainly through out­patient settings. Primary opioid users remained the largest group entering treatment in Ireland; however, as a proportion of all treatment entrants, their number was steadily decreasing over the last few years.

In contrast, the proportion of primary cannabis clients entering treatment rose between 2007 and 2013, while a gradual decrease was observed from 2015.

The most notable trend in recent years was the continued increase in the number of cases that presented for treatment for problem cocaine use.

The total number of syringes given out by pharmacies, outreach workers and at community-based syringe programmes in Ireland in 2017 exceeded half a million.

The extension of the pharmacy programme started in 2011 and has been successful, the report states. At the end of 2017, there were more than 100 pharmacies providing needle exchange, and around 1,750 individuals used pharmacy needle exchanges each month in 2017.