Survey shows drug addicts in Republic youngest in EU

Addicts in the Republic being treated for drugs are the youngest in the EU, a new survey shows. The average age in other EU member-states is 27 years, while in this State, the average is just under 24 years. This indicates that Irish addicts start younger and go into treatment earlier.

The Republic is also near the top of the table regarding the number of women as a proportion of all addicts in treatment. It shares second place with Belgium and Sweden. In the three states, women make up 28 per cent of drug-users in treatment. Only in Finland is there a higher proportion, where one-in-three addicts being treated is a women.

Earlier work by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Addiction centre found Irish teenagers were second only to the same age group in Britain in the level of illegal drug use, with 37 per cent of 15- to 16-year-olds saying they used illegal drugs, compared to 46 per cent in Britain.

The report predicts the demise of the dance drug ecstasy and the rise of amphetamines or speed as the newest drug of choice.

"The supply and use of amphetamines is increasing in almost all European countries," Mr Richard Hartnoll of the European monitoring centre said yesterday.

The report also showed the Republic had the fourth-highest proportion of HIV infection by intravenous-drug users in 1997, with 43 per cent of AIDS cases related to drug abuse. The report, to be published in Vienna, today, shows that almost four out of five Irish drug-users are treated for opiate abuse based on the latest figures from 1996.

In 1985 total seizures in Europe were 263 kg. By 1996, that had increased more than 10-fold to 3.5 tonnes. In the Republic, just 100 grammes of amphetamines were seized in 1985 compared to more than 102 kg of the drug last year.

The report also cites Interpol intelligence that Europe "seems to be at the centre of world ecstasy activity as 70 per cent of global seizures occurred there. It is now also an exporting-region, particularly to South-East Asia (five out of the 12 largest ecstasy seizures were destined for Asia)."