The Irish Country Living Magazine is to reveal details of an investigation into Cocaine use in Ireland.
Sara Cassidy, Aiséirí Rehabilitation Clinics’ head of clinical services says cocaine and drug use is a national issue and adds that drugs are accessible at virtually every crossroads. Ms Cassidy says this accessibility is driving the increase in substance abuse and the subsequent addiction.
Ms Cassidy, an employee Aiséirí, Cahir, for 17 years says the use of cocaine has increased dramatically in recent years adding that young people, urban and rural, are accessing it via social media platforms.
Aiséirí counsellors are finding that the young farmer in the family, aged 18- 30, is most often impacted with drug debts mounting up over time – Ms Cassidy acknowledges a situation of a farm family paying drug debts of €30,000.
Irish people are the joint-fourth highest consumers of cocaine globally, according to a new United Nations report. Only Australia, the Netherlands and Spain consume more.
Aiséirí counsellors’ experience of the pattern of addiction is that young people often start with cannabis and then move on to cocaine. Addiction has to be fed, and the minute it’s fed that it gets worse according to Ms Cassidy.
Earlier this year the Health Research Board reported that between 2016 to 2022, there was a 259% increase in the number of cases where cocaine was the main problem drug with over 4,000 people seeking treatment for cocaine addiction in 2022.
