Snapshot of a cocaine nation
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Shane Hickey
THE vast majority of cocaine users in Ireland get the drug off their friends and take it for fun, a major new Government report has revealed.
A survey by the Health Service Executive (HSE) on drug usage, published today, finds cocaine use has become an almost everyday feature of young people's social lives.
It reveals more than 90pc of regular users take cocaine with their friends, while most users have been hit financially as a result of their cocaine habit.
Drugs Minister Pat Carey last night said Irish drug takers were "anxious to do everything to excess" and were more likely to use a cocktail of drugs and alcohol than other nationalities.
Mr Carey, who has special responsibility for the national drugs strategy said that an additional €1m in funding would be announced in the coming weeks to pay for the training of drug addiction counsellors and awareness campaigns.
Today, the HSE will launch a national drugs public awareness campaign. The latest research into the drug-taking habits of the Irish public, meanwhile, revealed that:
l Some 80pc of cocaine users take the drug for fun.
l Some 83pc get the drug off their friends.
l Some 91pc of those who use cocaine do so with their friends.
l A total of 75pc say it has negative effects on their finances.
The survey highlighted the heavy social element intrinsic to cocaine use, but also the effects -- with one-in-four users saying their relationships had been affected as a result of taking cocaine.
"Unfortunately, we have this amazing tendency to use more than one drug, and, being Irish, we tend to use alcohol as our mixer," Mr Carey told the Irish Independent.
"Alcohol and cocaine, alcohol and heroin, alcohol and ecstasy -- we are never satisfied with one drug. Other cultures are able to have one glass of wine, one beer and then they might smoke a joint.
"In our case, we have to have 14 pints and then 14 joints. We seem to be anxious to do everything to excess, especially in recent times.
"We drink to excess and we drive without any great consideration, among certain age groups certainly . . . and when we take drugs, we take them to excess, and mix them."
The survey shows that 67pc of users bought cocaine for their own and their friends' use, while a huge majority (83pc) got cocaine from their friends and 15pc had been asked to supply the drug.
Mr Carey said the results showed that users did not have to travel the "highways and byways" to find the drug.
"The reality is that it is very available and we should disabuse ourselves of the notion that it is only available very surreptitiously," he said.
The coming weeks will see the announcement of some €1m in government funding towards the costs of local drugs taskforces, and for training and awareness campaigns.
Mr Carey said he was in favour of a localised campaign using hard-hitting ads, similar to those used to illustrate the effects of drink driving over a three-year period.
Cocaine party is over: Comment P25
