Background to the Research

• West Belfast Young People's Research Group was formed when a group of local young people was recruited and invited to join the WBEF and SCF as partners to research a topic of interest and relevance to young people in the area. Both the WBEF and SCF set minimal guidelines on the focus of the research topic, but it was very much the decision of the young people to research drugs and the drug culture among young people in West Belfast.
  

Research Approach

• The research group formulated questions on a range of issues: the drugs market, drug culture, the effect of drug trading on the community, and policy and practical responses. The research design included a postal questionnaire which was returned by 124 young people in nationalist West Belfast. In depth interviews with eight young people were also carried out. The research group also analysed a sample of newspaper reporting of the drugs issue. A visit to the Netherlands also provided an opportunity to compare ways of responding to the issue of drug taking. This research report contains the young people's account of the findings from these sources.
  

Main Findings

Drug Usage and Experimentation

• Of the 124 survey respondents, mostly aged 18, 29% were currently taking drugs, 23%v had experimented in the past and 48% had never used drugs. Cannabis and Ecstasy were the most popular drugs, taken by over three quarters of the current users. Exactly half of those who used drugs had used acid and/or speed. None of the respondents reported having used heroin.

Drug Trading and Drug Culture

• Only 14% of respondents said they had never been offered drugs and 97% reporting that drugs were easy to get. 84% said they had friends who used drugs and 64% said they knew people dealing in drugs.
• The evidence from the survey showed that drug dealing is low level and localised with people buying from friends of friends more than dealers.
• The survey also revealed that for most young people using drugs was a recreational activity and concentrated around weekends and at events such as concerts. Friends houses was named as the most popular place to use drugs, with two thirds of users taking drugs at clubs/raves.

A Community Issue

• The in-depth interviews explored the impact on the community of drug trading activity as revealed by the postal survey. A number of interviewees felt that the illicit drug trading was having a negative effect on the community and there was concern about the image of the community and the divisive effect of drug trading on the community; comments included:
  • "On a superficial level drugs haven't changed the area. Beneath the skin the areas definitely seem to be slowly changing".
  • "It gives the community a bad reputation and people will avoid going to these areas because they know they are likely to run into drug dealers and that".
  • "Definitely drugs affect the image of the community. Catholic West Belfast has a certain genre, mood about it. It's we're all together, people together but now there seems to be certain factions within the community which are fighting for each other".

Policy Debate and Practical Provision

• Young people's willingness to engage responsibly and comprehensively with policy implications of the drugs was revealed. An overwhelming 91% of respondents viewed drugs as a problem in terms of a health risk. Almost half of the drug users in the survey seen their own drugs as a health issue.
• Most young people in the survey felt that more education and information on drugs would be beneficial, whilst in-depth interviews, young people stated that information about drugs should be comprehensive and accurate in order to be useful to young people.
• No simple answers emerged from the answers of users and ex-users who were asked about possible reasons for giving up drugs. None however cited punishment as a deterrent.
• Most respondents agreed that most drugs should remain illegal, however 46% of respondents believed cannabis should be legalised.
• Upon visiting the Netherlands to explore the effects of a different policy approach to the whole drugs issue, the research group were impressed with the addiction support programmes that they visited and heard about. The evidence from this research is that young people want to be part of the policy debate on the drugs issue.