SNAPSHOT OF A COCAINE NATION

THE vast majority of cocaine users in Ireland get the drug off their
friends and take it for fun, a major new Government report has revealed.

A survey by the Health Service Executive (HSE) on drug usage,
published today, finds cocaine use has become an almost everyday
feature of young people's social lives.

It reveals more than 90pc of regular users take cocaine with their
friends, while most users have been hit financially as a result of
their cocaine habit.

Drugs Minister Pat Carey last night said Irish drug takers were
"anxious to do everything to excess" and were more likely to use a
cocktail of drugs and alcohol than other nationalities.

Mr Carey, who has special responsibility for the national drugs
strategy said that an additional =801m in funding would be announced in
the coming weeks to pay for the training of drug addiction counsellors
and awareness campaigns.

Today, the HSE will launch a national drugs public awareness campaign.
The latest research into the drug-taking habits of the Irish public,
meanwhile, revealed that:

l Some 80pc of cocaine users take the drug for fun.

l Some 83pc get the drug off their friends.

l Some 91pc of those who use cocaine do so with their
friends.

l A total of 75pc say it has negative effects on their
finances.

The survey highlighted the heavy social element intrinsic to cocaine
use, but also the effects -- with one-in-four users saying their
relationships had been affected as a result of taking cocaine.

"Unfortunately, we have this amazing tendency to use more than one
drug, and, being Irish, we tend to use alcohol as our mixer," Mr Carey
told the Irish Independent.

"Alcohol and cocaine, alcohol and heroin, alcohol and ecstasy -- we
are never satisfied with one drug. Other cultures are able to have one
glass of wine, one beer and then they might smoke a joint.

"In our case, we have to have 14 pints and then 14 joints. We seem to
be anxious to do everything to excess, especially in recent times.

"We drink to excess and we drive without any great consideration,
among certain age groups certainly . . . and when we take drugs, we
take them to excess, and mix them."

The survey shows that 67pc of users bought cocaine for their own and
their friends' use, while a huge majority (83pc) got cocaine from
their friends and 15pc had been asked to supply the drug.

Mr Carey said the results showed that users did not have to travel the
"highways and byways" to find the drug.

"The reality is that it is very available and we should disabuse
ourselves of the notion that it is only available very
surreptitiously," he said.

The coming weeks will see the announcement of some =801m in government
funding towards the costs of local drugs taskforces, and for training
and awareness campaigns.

Mr Carey said he was in favour of a localised campaign using
hard-hitting ads, similar to those used to illustrate the effects of
drink driving over a three-year period.