In recognition of the 20-year anniversary of the Methadone Treatment Protocol in 2018, the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) has brought together a series of reflections of their Substance Misuse Programme.¹ This comprises articles and extracts from Forum, the journal of ICGP, summaries of ICGP publications, pictures, and personal reflections from doctors and patients.

One of the aims of the first National Drugs Forum was to provide an opportunity for community-based services to inform colleagues about their work, to exchange knowledge around what works, and to identify information gaps. The workshops were a recognition the dynamism and commitment of these services.

They were designed to enable shared learning and encourage discussion among practitioners, activists and administrators who face similar challenges. The forum appointed a rapporteur to each workshop and a brief report on each workshop was presented at the final plenary session. The rapporteurs’ final reports are presented below.

Decriminalisation of limited amounts of drugs for personal use in Ireland would involve changing the current law that defines possession of drugs for personal use as a criminal offence.¹ This does not mean that possession for personal use would be legal, as an administrative offence and civil sanctions may still be applied. Furthermore, it would not affect the law that makes the possession of drugs for sale or supply a criminal offence. Decriminalisation is currently being considered by a working group jointly led by the Department of Health and the Department of Justice and Equality. The group was established in December 2017 to deliver on a commitment in the national drugs strategy to ‘consider the approaches taken in other jurisdictions to the possession of small quantities of drugs for personal use with a view to making recommendations on policy options to the relevant Minister within 12 months’ (p. 58).² The group has undertaken research and consultation to identify alternatives to the current system and to ensure that any alternatives would be appropriate in the Irish context.

On 24 October 2018, the Press Council of Ireland and the Office of the Press Ombudsman held a seminar on ‘Minority Communities and the Press’. The aim of the event was ‘to hear about the critical role the print media plays in advancing the participation and representation of minority communities in society’.¹ Presentations were made by those working in the areas of disability, homelessness, and drug use, as well members of the print media.

Public consultation was carried out as part of the development of Ireland’s current national drug strategy, Reducing harm, supporting recovery.¹ In a bid to ensure that the voice of those most affected by the new strategy would be heard, the Union for Improved Services, Communication and Education (UISCE) carried out a consultation with people who use drugs (PWUD). While central to any drug policy, the stigmatisation and criminalisation of drug use are just two of the reasons why the voices of PWUD tend not to be heard in the policy-making process. A paper has been published on the ‘peer-led street outreach approach’ undertaken by UISCE to fill this gap. The paper provides valuable insights on how to engage with PWUD to inform policy development.²

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.

The following abstracts are cited from published journal articles recently added to the repository of the HRB National Drugs Library at www.drugsandalcohol.ie