DRUGS

Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland Comparisons

* Approximately one-fifth of all adults in both Northern Ireland (21%) and the Republic of Ireland (20%) had not used any drugs (legal or illegal) in the last month. * The most common form of polydrug use among all adults is a combination of alcohol and tobacco for both jurisdictions and is more prevalent in the Republic (27%) than in Northern Ireland (18%).

Similar proportions of respondents smoked tobacco only in both the Republic of Ireland (5%) and Northern Ireland (4%), while a larger proportion of respondents consumed alcohol only in the Republic (50%) than in Northern Ireland (43%).

* Combinations that involved the use of sedatives or tranquillisers and antidepressants were generally higher among older adults than young adults in both jurisdictions.

In both the Republic and Northern Ireland, combinations that involved the use of any illegal drugs were reported by a small minority of respondents.

Ireland is the 13th easiest country to obtain drugs in worldwide
Drug-users in Ireland have among the highest rates of HIV and hepatitis C in Europe.
Drug dealers have increased by 40% since 1998.

In Ireland 76,000 people have smoked cannabis in the last month. 39% of teenage girls and 39% have smoked cannabis.

Cannabis is the 11th most harmful drug.
Effects are : immediate sense of well being, giggliness, sleepiness, hunger, impaired short term memory, increased heart rate, decreased blood pressure, forgetfulness, 4 times more tar on the lungs, lung disease, panic attacks, high anxiety, schizophrenia.

Ecstasy effects are: dizziness, exhilaration, euphoria, over heating, drinking too much water leading to swelling of the organs, coma and death.

One recent study found that most heroin addicts will never be able to break free from their addiction. It revealed that in addition to the physical problems associated with taking heroin, addicts tended to suffer from depression, anxiety and physical illness as a result of their failed attempts to quit the drug.

In Dublin there are only 5,000 treatment places for an estimated 13,000 addicts. Many drug users remain beyond the reach of health board services, and as they are often homeless as well, they rarely come in contact with any branch of the health or social services, apart from the Gardai. Merchants Quay runs a 12 week residential programme on a farm where the participants can develop farming related skills and learn to break free from the environment in which they used to take drugs. A health board funded project, Soilse, also attempts to treat addiction by addressing the person’s social and educational needs.

CRIME

Ireland is in the top 40 of crime per capita worldwide
432 recorded incidents of arson took place in the first 3 months of 2007.
Drug related offences are up by 22.2%
Almost 350 guns and knives and other weapons were handed in under the weapons amnesty in Ireland 2006.

SEXUAL ASSAULTS

Of the 15,831 calls made to Rape Crisis Ireland this year 45 were Child sexual abuse cases, 41 were Adult Rape cases, 8 were Adult Sexual Assault cases, 4 were Both child sexual abuse and adult rape/sexual assault cases and 1 was a Sexual Harassment case

*Total counselling calls – 15,831 *Total genuine counselling calls – 11,808 (refers to the number of calls when hoax, hang-ups and silent calls have been subtracted.) *First time callers – 3,929 *Repeat calls – 3,687 *Information calls – 3,787 *Total number of calls including education and training calls – 36,899

*Equivalent contacts with 24 hour Crisis Line Jan 2001 – Dec 2001: *Total counselling calls – 14,012 *Total genuine counselling calls – 9,982

*Child sexual abuse 45% *Adult Rape 41% *Adult Sexual Assault 8% *Both child sexual abuse and adult rape/sexual assault 4% *Sexual Harassment 1%

Sex of Caller: *Female 81% *Male 19%
Note: 70% of rapes had occurred within a year of contact with the Centre but only 9% of child sexual abuse cases had occurred within the last year.

Geographic location *Dublin 74% *Elsewhere 26%

Age of Victim *under 15 8% *15 to 19 32% *20 to 29 27% *30 and over 33%

Sources – www.irishhealth.com, EMCDDA (European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction), WHO (World Health Organization), ESPAD (European School Survey Project on Alcohol and other Drugs), The Irish Times and The Rape Crisis Centre of Ireland