The National Advisory Committee on Drugs and Alcohol (NACDA) has recently published Bulletin 4¹ in a series of reports on the 2014/15 survey on drug use in the general population in Ireland.² The bulletin focused on polydrug use in the adult population. Polydrug use was defined as the use of any two or more substances, legal, illegal or prescribed, within a one-month period.

The National Advisory Committee on Drugs and Alcohol (NACDA) has recently published Bulletin 3¹ detailing findings from the fourth drug prevalence survey regarding the use of cannabis in Ireland.² This survey followed best practice guidelines and used a random sample of households throughout the island of Ireland. Of the household members contacted, 7,005 agreed to take part. The sample was weighted by gender, age and region to ensure that it was representative of the general population. This article highlights major findings from this bulletin.

In October 2018, the United Kingdom (UK) reclassified pregabalin and gabapentin as class C controlled drugs, which will come into force in April 2019.¹ This is in direct response to the increased number of deaths linked to both these drugs in the UK and a consultation process around this issue.²

International agencies such as the United Nations and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) have recently highlighted their concerns about increased drug use among older people.^1,2 An Irish study published in the journal, Drug and Alcohol Dependence, demonstrates that the proportion of older people starting treatment for opioid use is growing, and many have used opioid drugs for a relatively long time prior to seeking treatment.³

The study analyses data from the National Drug Treatment Reporting System (NDTRS) over the 19-year period from 1996 to 2014 inclusive. The NDTRS is an epidemiological database on treated problem drug and alcohol use in Ireland. Treatment records where an individual started treatment for the first time and an opioid was the primary drug problem were selected and the data were explored using statistical techniques to assess changes over time.