Cocaine 'easier to order online than pizza' in rural Ireland says hurler turned counsellor

Sat, 19 Mar, 2022 - 06:00

Ann Murphy

Cocaine use in rural Ireland is growing so much that users are now claiming it is easier to get the drugs online than pizza.

As part of a new Irish Examiner focus on drug use in rural Ireland, interviewees have told this newspaper about using apps such as WhatsApp, Tiktok, and Snapchat to order cocaine and that, in some cases, the drugs are being delivered by taxi.

Users and garda sources also say money is also being exchanged for deals through online payment options such as Revolut.

Experts in the field say the country's current drug policy is clearly not working given the increasing number of people recreationally using.

One garda source told the Irish Examiner that nothing surprises him anymore about cocaine use in Ireland. He highlighted how drug dealing has evolved from the traditional meet-ups where drugs were exchanged for cash, to social media transactions with online payment options.

The sustained increase in the recreational use of drugs indicates that 'current policies are not working,' according to Sharon Lambert of the School of Applied Psychology, UCC. Picture: Denis Minihane

The GAA is now considering a motion, brought before its Congress in recent weeks, which would see all players who wish to participate in an adult championship match having to have completed courses, approved by GAA Central Council, on alcohol, gambling, and substance abuse (AGSA) and anti-doping education in that Championship year or the preceding one. Failure to do so would lead to a one-match suspension.

The motion being examined by the GAA’s community and health committee was brought by the Rathdowney-Errill club in Laois amid concern about cocaine use in rural areas.

Addiction counsellor and former Galway hurler Justin Campbell told the Irish Examiner that Ireland has “taken its eye off the ball” regarding cocaine use:

As a client said to me the other day, it is easier to get cocaine online than it is a pizza. They are using social media to get it.

Mr Campbell says someone who is not using it now is almost in the minority.

UCC academic Sharon Lambert questions the success of Ireland’s drug policies given the increase in the recreational use of drugs including cocaine.

In January, the Medical Bureau of Road Safety published its 2020 report, which highlighted that the number of tests of motorists detecting cocaine in drug driving cases almost trebled — from 535 in 2018 to 1,494 in 2020.

A total of 2,619 people were treated for problem cocaine use in Ireland in 2020 — more than three times the number of cases reported in 2014 (853 cases), according to a report published by the Health Research Board last July. Ms Lambert says:

The increase in recreational use does indicate that current policies are not working in terms of reducing the volume of substances circulating in communities.

"Despite the huge and ever-increasing amount of money that has been spent on law enforcement in the area, the issue has just continued to increase," she said.

Mike Guerin, senior addiction counsellor with Cuan Mhuire in Bruree, Co Limerick, says Ireland has been dealing with people "in a punitive manner for decades” for drug possession but he believes it has not done anything to lessen drug use.

“Is it fair that a young lad in Bandon or Skibbereen or Clonakilty caught on a Saturday night with a bag of cocaine would then have issues going to America or Australia, or in getting a job in a government department, or with a garda vetting paper to be a coach in his local GAA club when he gets to 40 years of age?” he asks.

Nonetheless, he says he is not in favour of legalising or decriminalising drugs.