On 22 November 2011, the National Advisory Committee on Drugs (NACD) and and the Public Health Information and Research Branch (PHIRB) of the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) in Northern Ireland published jointly the results of the third all-Ireland general population drug prevalence survey.¹ These surveys are done every four years. This article presents a summary of the methods and results for Ireland.  

The proportion of adults who reported using an illegal drug in the last year remained reasonably stable at 7.2% in 2006/7 and 7% in 2010/11 (Table 1). The proportion of young adults who reported using an illegal drug in the last year also remained stable, at 12.2% in 2006/7 and 12.3% in 2010/11. The proportion of young adults who reported using an illegal drug in the last month was 5.3%.

Cocaine use
Lifetime cocaine use increased in 2010/11 compared to 2006/7, but last-year use remained stable. The proportion of adults who reported using cocaine (including crack) at some point in their lives increased from 5.3% in 2006/7 to 6.8% in 2010/11 (Table 3). The proportion of young adults who reported using cocaine in their lifetime also increased, from 8.2% in 2006/7 to 9.4% in 2010/11. As expected, more men (9.9%) reported using cocaine in their lifetime than women (3.8%).  

Ecstasy use
Almost 11% of young adults surveyed in 2010/11 claimed to have tried ecstasy at least once in their lifetime (Table 4). More young men (15%) reported using ecstasy in their lifetime than young women (6%). The proportion of young adults who used ecstasy in the last year decreased significantly, from 2.4% in 2006/7 to 0.9% in 2010/11.  The decrease in ecstasy use may be partly explained by the proportion (6.7%) of young people reporting use of new psychoactive substances sold in head shops and on line.

The increase in the proportions using any illegal drug at some point in their lives between 2006/7 and 2011/12 was influenced by the fact that drug use in Ireland is a recent phenomenon and the population of lifetime and recent drug users is relatively young. Drug use is measured among adults aged 15–64, and those leaving this age group over the next five years are less likely to have been exposed to drug use than those entering the measurement cohort. The relative stability in last-year use of cannabis and cocaine indicates that the situation with respect to these drugs has stabilised.   

Cannabis use
Lifetime cannabis use increased over the four years since the 2006/7 survey, but last-year use remained stable (Table 2). The proportion of adults who reported using cannabis at some point in their life increased from 21.9% in 2006/7 to 25.3% in 2010/11. The proportion of young adults who reported using cannabis in their lifetime also increased, from 28.6% in 2006/7 to 33.4% in 2010/11. The lifetime prevalence rate in 2010/11 was higher for men (33.2%) than for women (17.5%). 

The proportion of adults who reported using cannabis in the last year did not decrease significantly in 2010/11 (6.0%) when compared to 2006/7 (6.3%). The proportion of young adults who reported using cannabis in the last year remained reasonably stable over the last two survey periods (Table 2). The proportion of adults who reported using cannabis in the last month remained stable also, at 2.8%

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