Drug-users in this State have among the highest rates of HIV and hepatitis C in Europe, and are more likely to overdose with more than one drug, according to the findings of a new report on drug use in Europe.
The report, from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, points to one Dublin study in 2000 which found that 90 per cent of people who overdosed had more than one drug in their system. This compares with 50 per cent in Britain.
Alcohol, methadone, cocaine, and benzodiazepines were the substances most frequently found combined with opiates such as heroin, according to the report.
It warns that this "polydrug" use is considered a particularly high risk when the user is driving, but says EU data on drugs and driving are limited. The report's data on Ireland were compiled by the drug misuse research division of the Health Research Board.
In its report to the EU agency, the research division warned of the increasing abuse of prescription drugs, such as benzodiazepines.
Dr Hamish Sinclair, head of the research division, said yesterday that the combination of benzodiazepenes with heroin was a growing problem in this State.
The prescription drugs were either being sold on the black market or being prescribed incorrectly, he said.
He welcomed the fact that the Department of Health would shortly be releasing guidelines to GPs on the issue.
"It is a growing problem and a very dangerous practice to mix heroin with prescription drugs," Dr Sinclair said. The European report found that the rate of HIV infection among injecting drug-users was increasing in Ireland.
The rate had increased dramatically between 1998 and 2000, but by last year Ireland had fallen from first to second place for newly diagnosed HIV infections among intravenous drug-users.
However, the report's authors suggest that the incidence of HIV infection is on the rise again.
Ireland also falls into the top percentile for hepatitis C infection among injecting drug-users: between 1996 and 2001 the figure was 72-73 per cent of intravenous drug-users. This compares with a figure of 29-56 per cent in the south of Britain, 60-63 per cent in France and 83 per cent in Spain.
The Republic has also reported some of the biggest increases in arrests for drug offences in Europe, with arrests increasing three-fold between 1991 and 2000.
Cannabis is the most common drug involved in arrests, accounting for 59 per cent of drug-related offences. The report found that cannabis use was either levelling off or falling in the Republic, despite rises in other states.
It estimates that about 20 per cent of people in this State have taken cannabis at some stage, compared with 10 per cent in Finland and 25-30 per cent in the UK.
