The Kinahan drug cartel is a main driver in the surge of cocaine coming into Europe and Ireland’s middle- and high-income earners are “fuelling” the trade here, garda sources have said.

The arrest of a Turkish international heroin trafficker in Dublin is a significant indicator of the scale of the heroin trade in this country.

People thinking of taking ecstasy at this weekend's Electric Picnic are misguided if they think snorting supposedly “purer” ecstasy powder is safer than tablets, one of the country's leading experts on drugs has said.

With Electric Picnic nearing, the Garda’s top drug officer talks to Cormac O’Keeffe about drugs, festivals and testing.

According to counsellors at the Cuan Mhuire treatment centre for women, addiction to crack cocaine was unheard of until recent times.

Frontline drug workers say landmark Government changes to drug possession sanctions are a “good start” but criticise the “three strikes and you’re out” approach in the plans.

The doubling in the potency of cannabis over the last ten years could be behind the growth in people seeking treatment for the drug, the European drugs agency has said.

The EU drugs agency said there were 104,000 seizures of cocaine in the EU in 2017, compared to 98,000 seizures in 2016.

There is a direct link between wannabe “little generals” shooting each other on Irish streets and the “record” levels of cocaine being trafficked into Europe, a top drug enforcer has said