Background

The Healthy Ireland Survey is an annual survey designed to increase knowledge of the population’s health and health behaviours.1 It is commissioned by the Department of Health, carried out by Ipsos B&A, and conducted with a representative sample of the general population aged 15 years and over. For the 2024 Survey, telephone interviews took place between October 2023 and April 2024 with 7,398 respondents. Questions about alcohol use are routinely asked in each wave of the survey. In addition to these questions, the survey explores general health, tobacco use, mental health, use of general practitioner (GP) and other health services, COVID-19 and long COVID, physical activity, weight management, caring responsibilities, and sleep. 

Figure 1: Percentage of respondents who consumed alcohol in the previous 12 months, by sex and age

An Garda Síochána Strategy Statement 2022—2024 was published on 9 June 2022.1 The mission of An Garda Síochána (AGS) for the duration of the strategy is simply ‘Keeping people safe’ (p. 6). While the strategy is set against the backdrop of living in a post-pandemic world, with global political and economic uncertainty, AGS is committed to evolving and meeting policing demands that are continually changing. The five pillars that the strategy focuses on are:

•    Community
•    Tackling crime and preventative policing
•    Victims and the vulnerable
•    Protecting the security of the Irish State
•    Sustainable change and innovation.

A new Programme for Government was agreed in January 2025 by the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael parties, and a group of Independent TDs.1 While lacking in much detail, it indicates an ongoing commitment to the health-led strategic direction of the current national drugs strategy. The Government commits to:

• Assess the outcomes of the national drugs strategy, Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery 2017–2025, and publish a successor strategy. No date is given for when this strategy will be published.
• Divert those found in possession of drugs for personal use to health services. This reflects an ongoing commitment to implement the Health Diversion Approach, which was originally announced by the government of the day in 2019.

The Joint Committee on Drugs Use was established by the Government to consider the Report of the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use and to make a reasoned response to each of its 36 recommendations.1 On 22 October 2024, the Committee published its Interim Report.2 

Context

The Committee included members from across the spectrum of political parties (not just Government parties).3 The Joint Committee on Drugs Use Interim Report is based on the Committee’s seven meetings held between June and September 2024.

HRB National Drugs Library

Background 

Alcohol use is responsible for four deaths every day in Ireland and causes many conditions, such as alcohol dependence and alcohol-related liver disease, as well as common health conditions, including cardiovascular disease and cancer.1 

The Health Research Board (HRB) periodically publishes alcohol overviews to collate information about alcohol use as well as related harms; the most recent of these was published in April 2024.1

Background

Alcohol-related brain injury (ARBI) is a term that encompasses various conditions associated with heavy and prolonged alcohol use.1-3 Wernicke encephalopathy and Korsakoff syndrome are the two most commonly known conditions, and develop as a result of thiamine deficiency (vitamin B1).4 Most at risk are those with alcohol dependency who may substitute food with alcohol. Their poor diet, and particularly the lack of vitamin B1, as well as alcohol interfering with the absorption and metabolism of vitamin B1, increase the risk of developing thiamine deficiency, and consequently ARBI. 

Symptoms of ARBI include a cognitive impairment and behavioural changes, including short-term memory loss, an inability of the brain to shift focus from one task or idea to another, limited attention span or ability to focus, difficulty regulating self-control (both behaviourally and emotionally), difficulty with decision-making, and diminished social interaction. 

Cannabis has been shown to be linked to the development of psychotic illness. Although it has been legalised in many jurisdictions over the last 20 years, its apparent detrimental effects on mental health has slowed its legalisation on a widespread basis in Europe. However, a possible consequence of continuing illegality is that users in an unregulated environment are consuming high-potency or synthetic cannabinoids, which may also lead to adverse effects, including psychosis.1

Introduction

The burden of alcohol and other drugs on the criminal justice system is complex to quantify. Data availability, the difficulty in classifying offences according to the role alcohol and/or other drugs may have played, and the uncertainty of a cause-and-effect relationship all complicate the narrative. However, an extensive body of evidence has consistently shown significant and definite associations between alcohol and other drug use and rates of criminal offences. 

Global evidence estimates that over 50% of perpetrators had been drinking prior to the offence committed.1 A systematic review and meta-analysis found that drug users were 3–4 times more likely to commit a criminal offence than those who do not use drugs.2 Irish data from the Probation Service found that one-half of clients (53%) committed an offence while intoxicated, or that alcohol was in some way associated with the offence, and similarly so for other drug use (48%).3 

Introduction

Alcohol use is highest in the World Health Organization (WHO) European region.1 Cancer is the leading cause of death due to alcohol use in Europe, and yet, awareness of this link between alcohol use and seven different cancers is low, particularly for breast cancer.2,3 Collaborating with the European Union (EU), the WHO aims to reduce alcohol use and related harms and increase awareness of the risks through a project called the WHO-EU Evidence into Action Alcohol Project (EVID-ACTION), co-funded by the EU as part of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan.4,5 The project covers 30 countries, including Ireland, and the focus is on building evidence for the case for alcohol health warning labels, supporting and sharing experiences and expertise among members, and providing tools and training to support implementation of screening and brief interventions in a variety of contexts. In order to gain a better understanding of the current level of knowledge and attitudes towards alcohol use, a survey was completed in five European countries, including Ireland. The findings from the Irish sample are presented here.

Background 

Much of Western Europe, North America and Australasia have seen a decline in alcohol use among young people.1-2 This is welcome indeed given that alcohol use is ranked as the second-highest contributor to disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) among adolescents and young adults aged 10–24 years globally.3 Alcohol contributes to all of the leading causes of death for young people, including suicide, road traffic collisions, poisoning and assaults, while long-term use is linked to multiple types of cancer, cardiovascular disease and liver disease.4,5 The Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018 aims to reduce population-level alcohol use, but specifically seeks to prevent or delay youth drinking.6 In order to determine if this phenomenon extends to Irish youths, data from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey were examined.7 

The Courts Service Annual Report 2023 was published on 23 September 2024. While the report presented data for all criminal cases arising within the Irish justice system between January and December 2023, this article only reports on statistics of prosecutions for drug offences.1 The data provided are for overall drug law offences. The Courts Service in Ireland does not distinguish between the different supply offences and possession/use offences (Courts Service, personal communication, 2017). 

In Ireland and internationally, there has been much attention on the growing popularity of inhaled nitrous oxide (N2O), colloquially known as ‘laughing gas’ or ‘hippy crack’. Although the prevalence of nitrous oxide use is not routinely collected in Ireland’s National Drug and Alcohol Surveys, a web survey (N=4398) conducted in 2021 found that 23.3% of respondents had ever used nitrous oxide, while a 2022 study (N=1193) of attendees at music festivals in Ireland found that 28% had used it in the last year.1,2 The popularity of nitrous oxide as a recreational drug can be attributed to the fact that it is cheap, readily available, and undetectable on routine drug screening. Recreational users tend to obtain it in small silver canisters known as ‘whippets’ or ‘silver bullets’, which are attached to a palm-sized ‘nitrous cracker’ to fill a balloon, from which the gas is inhaled. However, as nitrous oxide is cooled to its gaseous form for inhalation, container mishandling can cause frostbite injuries to the face and extremities.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) National Social Inclusion Office launched a multicomponent programme in May 2022 to engage with people who use drugs specifically in festival settings. This involved a media campaign, the development of resources, recruiting and training volunteers, and coordinating outreach teams at three specific festivals: Life Festival, Indiependence (Indie), and Electric Picnic. The aim of the programme was to engage with and support festival attendees in a non-judgemental way on the topic of substance use and related issues that emerge in nightlife spaces.

Background and methods

Pharmacotherapy is essential for the delivery of an equivalent standard of care in prison. However, prescribing can be challenging due to the complex health needs of prisoners and the risk of misuse of prescription drugs. Misuse, or non-medical use of prescription drugs, refers to the intentional repurposing of prescribed drugs outside of their intended indication. The drugs identified with the greatest potential for misuse are prescription opioids, benzodiazepines, Z-drugs, and gabapentinoids.1-3 Although there is widespread concern regarding the misuse of prescription drugs in prisons, few studies have examined prescribing trends of prescription drugs with potential for misuse in prison.

The 2024 National Drugs Forum was held in Croke Park in Dublin on 14 November. The theme of the forum was early warning on new drugs and emerging trends. The event provided an opportunity to learn about recently developed monitoring tools in Ireland and to get a sense of the types of information that can contribute to knowledge on emerging trends and support preparedness to deal with threats that might be unfamiliar. Previously experimental techniques, such as wastewater analysis, drug checking and testing, analysis of syringe residues, and online surveys are now part of Ireland’s early warning system. 

In the final quarter of 2024, the SAOL Project published two reports on the issues facing women in addiction who are also experiencing domestic violence. “They said they couldn’t take me because I was on drugs”: A report examining whether human rights are negated for women in addiction when accessing domestic violence support and refuge in Ireland was published in October 2024.1 The second report, Worthy of Love: An evaluation of the DAVINA project, was published in December.2

The 15th annual conference of the European Society for Prevention Research (EUSPR) was held in Cremona, Italy from 10 to 13 September 2024. The theme of the conference was ‘prevention in and with communities’. 

EUSPR

The EUSPR promotes the development of prevention science and its application to practice in order to promote human health and well-being through high-quality research, evidence-based interventions, policies, and practices.1

Prevalence and current situation

Prevalence and associated risk factors for suicidal ideation, non-suicidal self-injury and suicide attempt among male construction workers in Ireland
O’Donnell S, Egan T, Clarke N and Richardson N (2024) BMC Public Health, 24(1):1263. Available from: https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/40998/ 

Identification of N-pyrrolidino protonitazene in powders sold as heroin and associated with overdose clusters in Dublin and Cork, Ireland
Killoran S, McNamara S, Kavanagh P, O’Brien J and Lakes R (2024) Drug Test Anal. Available from: https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/41058/