Pubdate: Wed, 21 Nov 2001 Source: Irish Independent (Ireland) Copyright: Independent Newspapers (Ireland) Ltd Contact: http://www.independent.ie/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/213 Author: Brian Beary IRELAND REGISTERS SIGNIFICANT DROP IN 'HARD' DRUG USERS THE proportion of Irish people aged between 15-64 taking "hard" drugs such as heroin, cocaine and LSD over their lifetime has fallen significantly, according to a new report. A European Union-wide study shows that Ireland and the UK, where such use dropped from 16pc in 1995 to 9pc in 1999, were the only EU countries to register a decrease in lifetime drug use. But the injecting of heroin is increasing, and has led to a dramatic rise in the number of intravenous drug users testing positive for HIV. Up until 1996, the trend was for more heroin users to smoke the drug but, the report notes, more recently injecting has been on the increase. The annual report from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction reveals Ireland and Finland have the youngest clients entering drugs treatment programmes. In addition, Ireland registered one of the highest increases in drug-related arrests over the last three years, up from 3,300 in 1996 to 6,900 in 1999. Drug users in prison continue to pose a major problem throughout the EU, with an estimated 180,000 to 600,000 users passing through the prisons every year. The Lisbon-based agency says about 45 million people in the EU have tried cannabis, and lifetime experience of cannabis among adults ranges from around 10pc in Finland to 20-25pc in Ireland, Denmark, Spain, France, the Netherlands and the UK. Up to 4pc of EU adults have experimented with amphetamines and ecstasy, but this figure is closer to 10pc in the UK. Heroin use is less than 1pc, but it causes most drug-related problems including crime, infectious diseases and overdoses. The number of deaths each year from drug overdoses and poisonings in the EU has stabilised at about 7,500, roughly half that of the US. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh