Drug Crime - ​According to the Global Organized Crime Index, Ireland has the second highest number of opiate users in the European Union (EU), with heroin being the drug of choice for many. Half of the estimated users are males over 35 years old, and most are concentrated in Dublin’s poorer areas. Cocaine use in Ireland has increased in recent years, and the country has become a transit point or destination for the drug, with significant seizures suggesting that Ireland is rapidly becoming part of the South American-European cocaine pipeline and a supply route to the UK, as well as supplying the internal markets north and south. The distribution networks are financed and enabled by transnational organized crime groups. In recent years, the number of young people treated for cocaine use more than doubled, highlighting that the cocaine problem worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the increased availability and consumption of crack cocaine have led to an increase in street violence in Dublin. Consult with the CIA World Factbook’s section on Illicit Drugs for country-specific information.