Perhaps at 30 years of age, I’m already hopelessly and helplessly out of touch with what it is to be young, but it seems to me that embracing the inevitability of drug use and forming guidance around that central reality is not a great stance for a national health service to be taking.
This uneducated musing comes following the release of the HSE’s “drug warning” (although ‘guidance’ would be a more accurate word) for people partying over the St Patrick’s Day weekend.
While acknowledging that it’s “safer not to use, there is always risk”, it nevertheless points avid users in the right direction, with such helpful slogans as “if it’s pink, stop and think” and “start low, go slow”:
“Ahead of St Patrick’s Day weekend, the HSE is issuing new information for anyone who uses powder and crystal forms of drugs in Ireland. Results from powders and crystals analysed in the HSE’s Emerging Drug Trend Laboratory highlight risks for people who use these forms of drugs in nightlife settings,” the communication reads, before getting into the practicalities.
The HSE notes a trend away amongst the youth from MDMA in pill form to powders and crystals, which, it says, “also carry the same risk”:
“Powders and crystal forms of MDMA are now more common than pills among young people. Analytical results show that MDMA powders and crystals in Ireland are extremely potent. This increases the risk of people taking too much too quickly while not realising how much they are taking, which can lead to an emergency.
“Putting powders and crystals into drinks can greatly increase the risks. If the powders or crystals do not fully dissolve, MDMA can collect at the bottom of the drink meaning a large amount may be consumed at once. Small amounts can contain more MDMA than people realise. For this reason, we are reinforcing our message to ‘start low, go slow’.”
It adds after that that the HSE advice to young people is to avoid adding MDMA to drinks because they can’t predict how much they’re taking.
The guidance also raises concerns about “batches of pink powder”, which can apparently “vary in contents”. An analysis of one powder, it said, found six substances, with other samples containing a drug never before identified in Ireland (2-FMA).
“Each batch of pink powder can differ in contents, meaning those purchasing are unaware of the contents, potency and risks. The HSE also warns that what is sold as ‘pink cocaine’ most often does not contain any cocaine, but a ketamine mixture,” it reads.
Hence the advice, “if it’s pink, stop and think”.
Now, I get the case for issuing this advice, I do. It goes roughly that people are going to take these drugs anyway, the HSE is going to have to treat some of them, and so this guidance might help to reduce risk among those who do opt for a pill or powder-powered St Patrick’s Day weekend.
For what it’s worth, I don’t think that reasoning is wrong. I imagine it’ll play out exactly like that, in fact.
But there’s a concurrent process at work in the HSE issuing guidance of this nature, one that gives the impression that there’s a safer and riskier way to take drugs. Which, while technically true, is ultimately an attitude that has gone a long way towards normalising drug use.
To disastrous effect.
The absolutist position against drugs – that they’re never acceptable, that they’re always dangerous and that they ought to remain criminalised and those involved in their production and sale hounded – has become incredibly unfashionable, and yet as it’s fallen out of favour, drug use here has spiked.
Ketamine use is soaring in Ireland, with treatment admissions almost tripling between 2021 and 2024. There’s been a 250 percent increase in people seeking treatment for cocaine use since 2017. Health Research Board (HRB) figures from 2024 showed 13,295 cases were treated for problem drug use that year, the highest annual number recorded to that point.
You get the idea. The problem is, overall, growing. This is even as there’s evidence to suggest that it’s no longer just a problem afflicting traditionally at-risk demographics, but is reaching a broader market. Drugs are clearly making inroads on Ireland’s social scene.
Different problems, then, require different solutions. Even if (and this is still debated) the health-based approach is what’s best for more traditional drug users, and for those newer users who do find themselves with an established drug problem, that does not necessarily translate to it being the best basis for a public awareness campaign ahead of a weekend famous for its partying.
Call me old-fashioned, but I think the timeless messages “Don’t do drugs” or “Drugs are bad” would be infinitely preferable from the HSE than “start low, go slow”. Many people are going to do just that, and will ostensibly be fine after St Patrick’s Day has come and gone.
But if you’ve spent the weekend snorting powder or swallowing pills, you’re not fine. And the HSE won’t have told you that.