A Flash Eurobarometer survey on young people and drugs was undertaken in June 2014.   Some 13,128 respondents aged 15-24 in the 28 member states from different social and demographic groups were interviewed via telephone.  Five hundred young people from Ireland participated in the survey. Part of the survey dealt with perceived availability of drugs. Around a quarter of respondents believed it would be easy to obtain cocaine, new substances that imitate the effects of illicit drugs and ecstasy, and over half believed it would be easy to obtain cannabis.  

Table 1 presents the responses from Ireland and the UK, of which Ireland is sometimes regarded as a sub-market for certain drugs, and the EU average. The proportion of Irish respondents who responded that it was ‘very easy’ to obtain certain substances was above the proportion across all member states for all substances, except tobacco.  Of the Irish respondents 40% said cannabis was ‘very easy’ to obtain compared to 29% of all respondents.  Ecstasy was regarded as very easy to obtain by 19% of Irish respondents compared to 7% across all member states.  Perceived availability of heroin was broadly similar across Ireland, the UK and the EU. In Ireland, relative to the UK, perceived availability was higher for all substances except for new substances that imitate the effects of illicit drugs.