In March 2019, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) published Drug prevention: exploring a systems perspective, as part of its Technical Report series.¹ Drawing on systems theory, the report considers substance use prevention in Europe through the lens of a system. A system is described as being made up of ‘a set of elements organised for a common purpose that are connected and interact with each other to form an integrated whole’ (p. 6). By taking this approach, the report highlights the wide range of factors that need to be considered when implementing substance use prevention programmes and policies.

The Second National Intracultural Health Strategy (NIHS) 2018–2023 has been published by the Health Service Executive (HSE).¹ It will enable the HSE to better address the needs of service users of all ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The strategy is in response to the increasing diversity of people living and accessing health services in Ireland. Census 2016 showed that 17% of the population were not born in Ireland, representing 500,000+ individuals from 200 different countries (p. 13).¹

In December 2018, the Minister for Justice and Equality published the Garda Inspectorate’s Policing with local communities report.¹ The Policing Authority (PA) was tasked with overseeing this review and worked alongside the Garda Síochána Inspectorate (GSINSP), who are responsible for ensuring that the resources available to An Garda Síochána (AGS) ‘are used so as to achieve and maintain the highest levels of efficiency and effectiveness in its operation and administration, as measured by reference to the best standards of comparable police services’ (s. 117).² The terms of reference agreed by PA and GSINSP examined:

• The changing environments in rural, developing urban and suburban areas
• Views of local communities
• Allocations of Garda resources and their deployment at the local policing level, including the use of the Garda Reserve, Garda facilities and Garda equipment, and
• Relevant recommendations made in previous Inspectorate reports (p. 2).

This rapid evidence assessment set out to determine the availability and quality of international research evidence on the subject of end-of-life care for people with alcohol and drug problems.¹ There have been significant changes in the population of people with substance use problems. These include an increase in the number of older drug users and deaths in this population that are non-drug related and an increase in alcohol-related morbidity and mortality in older users.

An evidence summary was commissioned by Public Health England to examine the therapeutic potential of buprenorphine prolonged-release injection as an alternative opioid dependence treatment to the current treatment of daily sublingual buprenorphine-naloxone.¹ Buprenorphine prolonged-release injection is an opioid agonist/antagonist and is administered as a weekly or monthly subcutaneous injection. Buprenorphine injection may be an alternative treatment option for opioid addiction where people have difficulties following a daily supervised opioid substitution and also where there is a potential safety risk of storing medicines at home.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) Adolescent Addiction Service (AAS) provides support and treatment in relation to alcohol and drug use for young people and families from the Dublin suburbs of Ballyfermot, Clondalkin, Palmerstown, Lucan, and Inchicore. Services provided include advice, assessment, counselling, family therapy, professional consultations, and medications if required. In 2018, the AAS published a report detailing referrals for 2017.¹