The first survey on drug use in the general population was carried out in Ireland in 2002/03. The survey was repeated in 2006/07, 2010/11, and 2014/15.¹ In 2018, the Health Research Board (HRB) in Ireland commissioned IPSOS MRBI to conduct the fifth Irish National Drug and Alcohol Survey (NDAS).²

The emergence of the phenomenon of new psychoactive substances (NPS) since the mid-2000s marks a new phase in our millennia-long relationship with mood or mind-altering substances.

In April 2021, the Participation framework: national framework for children and young people’s participation in decision-making was launched by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY).¹ The framework aims to support departments, agencies, and organisations to improve their practice in listening to children and young people and giving them a voice in decision-making.

On 15 April 2021, Minister of State for Law Reform James Browne TD and Minister for Justice Helen McEntee TD launched a new Youth Justice Strategy 2021–2027.^1,2 It is centred on a developmental framework that aims to target ongoing and emerging challenges in youth justice.²

The Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018 in Ireland has been praised as a world-leading package of alcohol policy reforms. The path to alcohol policy change in Ireland was long and winding as well as politically perilous.

Alcohol consumption has long been a source of major health and social problems in Ireland. A combination of factors undermined previous attempts to address alcohol as a public health issue, including the considerable political and economic power wielded by the alcohol industry and the failure of the Government to develop a fully integrated approach across its departments and agencies.

Published in July 2021, the latest National Drug Treatment Reporting System (NDTRS) report presents trends in treated problem drug use (excluding alcohol) for the seven-year period from 2014 to 2020.^1,2

Drug poisoning (overdose) deaths are a leading cause of avoidable death with rates increasing globally. According to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), the mortality rate due to drug poisoning in the European Union in 2019 is estimated at 14.8 deaths per million population aged 15–64 years, with over three-quarters (77%) of these deaths among men.

Individuals who use cannabis are more likely to use other illicit substances, with several epidemiological studies showing that the use of cannabis is significantly related to the use of ‘harder’ illegal drugs, including stimulants such as cocaine and ecstasy.

There is ongoing debate regarding the relationships between early onset substance use and later use of other drugs. The common liability model states that a combination of risk factors places some people at increased risk of both early initiation and of subsequent progression to more serious and sustained drug abuse.

Until 2010, new psychoactive substances (NPS) could be bought legally in headshops in Ireland. However, recent finding from the Irish National Drug and Alcohol Survey 2019–20¹ show that the prevalence of recent NPS use remains very low.

In 2010, new psychoactive substances (NPS) were the subject of two pieces of legislation in Ireland.^1,2 The first (enacted in May 2010) expanded the list of substances controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Acts 1977−1984 to include over 100 NPS.¹ The second, the Criminal Justice (Psychoactive Substances) Act 2010 (enacted in August 2010), covered the sale of substances by virtue of their psychoactive properties. It was aimed at vendors of NPS and effectively made it an offence to sell a psychoactive substance.

Published in July 2021, the latest National Drug Treatment Reporting System (NDTRS) report presents trends in treated problem alcohol use for the seven-year period from 2014 to 2020.¹

The first Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study was conducted in Ireland in 1998 and has been repeated every four years ever since. In 2018, Ireland participated for the sixth time in the HBSC study.

The European Schools Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) has conducted surveys of school-going children every four years since 1995 using a standardised method and a common questionnaire. The seventh survey was undertaken in 35 European countries during 2019 and collected information on alcohol, tobacco, and other substance use among 15–16-year-old students.

The Self-Harm Assessment and Data Analysis (SADA) Project was set up in Ireland in 2016 to provide robust information relating to the incidence and profile of self-harm within prison settings as well as individual-specific and context-specific risk factors relating to self-harm. In addition, it examines patterns of repeat self-harm (both non-fatal and fatal). The Health Service Executive’s National Office for Suicide Prevention and the National Suicide Research Foundation assist the Irish Prison Service with data management, data analysis, and reporting. This article highlights findings from a report presenting data in the analysis of all episodes of self-harm across the Irish prison estate during the year 2019.

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) is Ireland’s specialist agency for the surveillance of communicable diseases. Part of the Health Service Executive (HSE), and originally known as the National Disease Surveillance Centre, the HPSC endeavours to protect and improve the health of the Irish population by collating, interpreting, and disseminating data to provide the best possible information on infectious diseases. The HPSC has recorded new cases among injecting drug users of HIV since 1982, HBV (hepatitis B virus) since 2004, and HCV (hepatitis C virus) since 2006. The figures and tables presented in this summary are based on data extracted from the Computerised Infectious Disease Reporting (CIDR) System in July 2021.

Alcohol Action Ireland (AAI), the national independent advocate for reducing alcohol harm, surveyed a number of alcohol treatment service providers to explore issues around the provision of treatment services for harmful and dependent drinkers in Ireland. Its report,¹ published in 2021, forms part of AAI’s programme of work on its strategic goal to advocate for services for those affected by alcohol harm, as outlined in Leading change: a society free from alcohol harm. Strategic Plan 2020–2024.²

Targeted Response with Youth (TRY) is a peer-mentoring project based in Dublin's south inner city, which targets young people involved in or at risk of becoming involved in the drug economy and antisocial behaviour (ASB). An evaluation of the programme was published in November 2020, entitled Relentless caring: trying something new.¹