Irish people joint fourth biggest users of cocaine globally, UN study finds – Gript

Irish people are among the biggest users of cocaine worldwide, according to a disconcerting new report from the United Nations. 

The study, conducted globally by the UN, found that one in every 40 people in Ireland reported using the Class A drug in the previous year, putting Ireland joint fourth for cocaine use worldwide.

The study, conducted by the UN Office ON Drugs and Crime found that Ireland was only topped by three other nations when it came to rates of cocaine use, with only Spain, the Netherlands and Australia ranking higher. The report said that Ireland is level with the US when it comes to use of the drug, while Australia had the highest use of cocaine worldwide, with 4.2 per cent of people surveyed admitting to using the drug in the last 12 months.

Over 2.4 per cent of the Irish population surveyed said they had used cocaine in the space of a year in Ireland. Since its recent publication, the report has sparked concerns about growing demand for cocaine in Ireland, and the implications, with concerns raised regarding whether its increased use could ignite further violence among drug dealing and criminal groups.

The report, published on 16 March, found that global production of the drug had increased “drastically” over the past two years, following an initial slowdown brought about by Covid-19. 

The ‘Global Report on Cocaine 2023’ details how coca cultivation jumped by 35 per cent from 2020 to 2021 – a record high and the largest annual increase since 2016.

The UN said that the rise is a result of both an expansion in coca bush cultivation, and improvements in the process of converting coca bush to cocaine hydrochloride.

The report details how the steep increase in supply has been met by a “similar swelling in demand” with multiple regions showing a steady rise in cocaine users in the past decade, with the cocaine market remaining quite concentrated in the Americas and parts of Europe. 

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Irish people joint fourth biggest users of cocaine globally, UN study finds – Gript