In the last decade there has been a substantial increase in research relating to alcohol’s harm to others; and international research indicates that a significant proportion of the population has experienced harm from other people’s drinking. On 16 April 2018, the Health Service Executive (HSE) launched the results of the first dedicated Irish survey on alcohol’s harm to others.¹ The survey was undertaken in 2015 using CATI (computer assisted telephone interviewing) and employed a probability sample. The total completed sample was 2,005 and the response rate was 37.2%. The survey comprised three main parts:

• Harm from others’ drinking (including strangers, co-workers and known drinkers); harm to children from others’ drinking; and alcohol-related domestic problems due to others’ drinking.
• The burden on those around the drinker, for example, caring for the drinker; the burden of specific harms from drinkers with a cost impact; and having to seek help due to the drinking of others.
• The financial burden of harms from others’ drinking, including the estimated cost of caring for the drinker; having to seek public services due to others’ drinking; out-of-pocket expenses; and estimated workplace costs related to co-workers’ drinking.

In the last decade there has been a substantial increase in research relating to alcohol’s harm to others; and international research indicates that a significant proportion of the population has experienced harm from other people’s drinking. On 16 April 2018, the Health Service Executive (HSE) launched the results of the first dedicated Irish survey on alcohol’s harm to others.¹ The survey was undertaken in 2015 using CATI (computer assisted telephone interviewing) and employed a probability sample. The total completed sample was 2,005 and the response rate was 37.2%. The survey comprised three main parts:

• Harm from others’ drinking (including strangers, co-workers and known drinkers); harm to children from others’ drinking; and alcohol-related domestic problems due to others’ drinking.
• The burden on those around the drinker, for example, caring for the drinker; the burden of specific harms from drinkers with a cost impact; and having to seek help due to the drinking of others.
• The financial burden of harms from others’ drinking, including the estimated cost of caring for the drinker; having to seek public services due to others’ drinking; out-of-pocket expenses; and estimated workplace costs related to co-workers’ drinking.

A recent report from the World Health Organization (WHO) demonstrated that almost one-half of Irish drinkers engage in heavy drinking on a regular basis, placing Ireland’s binge drinking rates at the second highest of 174 countries studied.¹ In addition, per capita alcohol consumption in Ireland has trebled over the past four decades,² an increase that has been associated with an earlier age at commencing drinking, with research indicating a rise in alcohol use among students in Ireland and increasing levels of high-risk drinking.³ Policymakers have attempted to combat this problem, as tailoring effective public health policy is crucial in tackling this burgeoning issue. Nevertheless, successive legislation has so far been largely ineffective in addressing the alcohol crisis in Ireland.

Intentional drug overdose (IDO) is the most common form of hospital-treated self-harm, involved in 65–85% of presentations in Ireland, as reported by National Self-Harm Registry Ireland.¹ However, no national study has systematically classified the range of drugs involved using a validated system in Ireland. The Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) system is a World Health Organization-recommended classification system designed to measure drug utilisation at an internationally comparable level.² Recently conducted research aimed to examine drugs taken in IDO according to the ATC classification.³

A report published in December 2017 by Europol provided an overview of how illegal drugs sustain organised crime within the European Union (EU).¹