The Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs requested the National Drug Strategy Team (NDST) to put forward proposals in relation to the tackling of cocaine misuse in Ireland. In response, the NDST established a cocaine subgroup to recommend pilot measures and report back to the Team.

Recommendations were made in the areas of Training, Education and Treatment.
A Peer Support Women’s Health Project was chosen by the subgroup to be the subject of one of the pilot treatment initiatives. The pilot stemmed from a proposal previously developed within the Women’s Health Project Team within the East Coast Area Health Board, which proposed using peer support as a model to support women using cocaine.

The target group in this pilot comprised women with problematic cocaine use that were working in the sex industry.