Irish public highly concerned over the impact of illegal drugs

More than half of the Irish public have serious concerns about the use of illegal drugs in their local community, according an EU-wide report.

The Eurobarometer survey 552, ‘Impact of drugs on local communities’, surveyed EU citizens over 15 years old across 27 countries.

Respondents from Portugal, which decriminalised drugs in 2001, were the most likely to be concerned about local drug use (68 per cent of 1,008). Ireland ranked second at 58 per cent of the same number of respondents. The EU average was 39 per cent.

‘Epidemic’

Irish residents were the most likely to believe that it would be “easy” to obtain cocaine (58 per cent) and heroin (33 per cent) within 24 hours, also significantly higher than the EU average.

According to Laya Healthcare’s 2025 Workplace Wellbeing Index, more than one in five employees are “addicted to or have an unhealthy relationship with at least one illegal substance”.

Eddie Mullins, CEO of homelessness and addiction charity Merchants Quay Ireland, commented: “I think there’s an awful lot of people who are habitually using drugs or trying to conceal it and hide it and a survey would fail to capture that”.

“I’m convinced that it’s under-reported. Cocaine use is really at an epidemic proportion.”

Cocaine

In January, the Citizens’ Assembly on Drug Use called for the wholesale liberalisation of laws on the possession of illegal drugs, including cocaine, cannabis, heroin, and opioids.

Fianna Fáil has committed to decriminalising “drug possession for personal use”. Fine Gael leader Simon Harris opposes decriminalisation but the party manifesto promises to continue a ‘health-led’ rather than criminal justice approach to drug possession. It also says the party will consider ‘shooting galleries’ for drug users to legally inject themselves.

Earlier this year, it was revealed that demand for help with cocaine addiction has risen dramatically in the Republic of Ireland.

In 2023, according to Health Research Board data, cocaine was the most common drug reported by people seeking treatment, accounting for one in three cases.