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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Fifth of Irish have tried illegal drugs
Stephen O'Brien The Sunday Times
Sunday 19 Oct 2003 ONE in five Irish people have taken drugs at some stage in their life, according to a new survey on drug use in Ireland. Cannabis emerged as the most popular drug with about 17% of the population north and south experimenting with it at least once. Ecstasy was used by only 4% of people in the republic, while in the north the figure was 6%. The survey was conducted by the National Advisory Committee on Drugs (NACD) and is to be published tomorrow. The study also clashes with a United Nations survey, published on Friday, which claimed that Irish people were the biggest abusers of ecstasy and amphetamines in Europe. That study was based on the findings of research called the ESPAN study where a group of young people were interviewed in a classroom setting. The NACD study is confined to a much smaller group by comparison. Its findings are based on an island-wide sample of more than 1,000 people. It will be launched by Noel Ahern, the junior minister responsible for the national drugs strategy. The survey asked participants if they ever used drugs; if they had used drugs in the past year; and if they had taken drugs in the past month. Those who agreed to take part in the survey were first approached on the street by researchers but were later interviewed in their own homes. "It is a very in-depth study. They have been working on it for a year and it inquires into the use of drugs over three different time frames," said one government source. "The figures used in the UN comparison were supplied by the Irish government, but there can be an element of bravado when you're talking to young people in a classroom setting. This survey shows us nearer to the European norm, offering a representative balance of all different age, sex, social class and geographic categories." The United Nations survey found that the numbers of people abusing speed - the common name for amphetamines - was five times higher in Ireland than in most other European countries. It was only exceeded by Thailand, Australia and the Philippines. Irish people were also found to be the second-biggest users of ecstasy in the world, after Australia. Antonio Maria Costa, the director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, told an Irish newspaper on Friday that Irish young people were playing a dangerous game of "Russian roulette".
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