Background to the Research

• The cease-fires of 1994 marked the transition of NI towards peace. Local media, public perception, and claims by "drug authorities" suggest an increase in drug use subsequent to the cease-fires. This article explores the extent and patterning of drug use among young people within NI. It then links these issues to the current political situation by examination of material in light of the major paramilitary cease-fires that commenced in 1994. The author's central tenet is that all social phenomena in NI are related in some way to the wider political conflict and that social problems must be examined in this context.
  

Research Approach

• Media and professional perceptions concerning the drug use issue are explored along with available evidence. This evidence is constructed from multiple indicators of drug use, including results from self report surveys conducted largely with samples of youth, public health data, and law enforcement information, as well as preliminary data from research in progress. Where possible, data are presented specifically on youth; however, other sources that do not delineate age categories are also included where deemed appropriate to provide context. In addition, data are presented pre- and post-cease fires.
  

Drugs and the Political Context

• As well as engaging in a campaign against the British security forces and other targets related to their overall military campaign, the Provisional IRA have also been involved in the policing of Republican areas against antisocial crime, including the supply of drugs. The authors state, however, that the IRA have not been involved in any organised fashion in the sale or distribution of drugs in NI.
• In April 1995, and despite the cease-fires, a vigilante group calling itself DAAD, a group often linked with the IRA, began a series of murders of alleged drug users.
• The INLA, formed in 1975 as the military wing of the Irish Republican Socialist Party, have been involved in drug trafficking. A splinter group that emerged from the INLA the IPLO, now disbanded, allegedly earned great profits from drugs and subsequently met with members from the Loyalist paramilitary organisations to divide territory in Belfast.
• Like Republicans, the Loyalist paramilitaries engage in the informal policing of working-class areas from which they draw their support. Consequently, there is widespread belief in NI that Loyalist paramilitaries are involved in drug trafficking in NI. Although there have been some attempts to eradicate the practice and persistent warnings in the Loyalist paramilitary magazines for those involved to desist, the practice is apparently continuing.

Drug Policy in Great Britain and Northern Ireland

• In practice, NI drug policy has differed greatly from British policy. For example, British drug policy has for several years emphasised prevention and education. However, the NI DHSS claimed that drug prevention and education strategies were not necessary in NI because of the perceived low level of drug misuse.
• Second, heroin users in several parts of England, Wales, and Scotland often have access to legal methadone. Drug policy in NI, however, for the most part does not permit methadone maintenance.
• Third, unlike the rest of the United Kingdom, NI has yet to offer needle exchange.

The Pattern and Extent of Drug Use In Northern Ireland

• Several local health officials have argued that the 1994 cease-fires allowed for the emergence of various social problems. Specifically, prior to the cease-fires, people were involved with "wider community concerns" and were "preoccupied" with the ongoing conflict so that when more peaceful conditions emerged, drug use and other problems began to emerge.
• The author's review of multiple indicators suggests that it is incorrect to assume, at least so far, that most drug use in NI has increased since the 1994 cease-fires.
• There appears to be some indication that a heroin scene may be developing in NI. All indicators, with the exception of the population surveys, point to an increasing use of heroin in the late 1990s.
• The cataclysmic rise in most drug use headlined in the media cannot be validated by available evidence.
• Of concern is the army of paramilitaries with differing drug ideologies, looking for a fresh role as well as the possibility of increased demand for and supply of drugs associated with democratic and cultural shifts.

Conclusions

• Considerable research is required for a more thorough understanding of the heterogeneity in the pattern and extent of drug use among youth throughout NI.
• It is imperative that prevention strategies be enhanced to sustain the still relatively low prevalence of most drug use and that harm minimisation be placed firmly on the agenda, not least with regard to the emerging health risk presented by the evolving heroin scene.