Increase in cocaine use and people’s use of opioids in Cork city ‘problematic’ among drug study findings

A new UCC study shows that there was an average of 6,685 syringes provided across Cork city each month last year from pharmacy-based sites.

The report, Problem Drug Use in Cork City: A Study on Prevalence and Harms, also showed that in 2022, there were more than 850 problematic opioid users in Cork City; with almost one third unknown to support services.

An increase in cocaine use was noticeably pronounced among those aged 15-34, with almost 4% of young adults who participated in the 2019-20 survey reporting use of cocaine in the last year compared to 1.3% in 2014-15.

For 2019-2023, benzodiazepines were the main drug implicated in non-fatal overdose cases, followed by opioids, with an average of one opioid overdose each week.

Problem drug use is defined as recurrent drug use that is causing harm to an individual or is placing them at a high probability or risk of suffering harm.

Substances associated with problem drug use include opioids, cocaine, amphetamines, benzodiazepines, Z-drugs, and gabapentinoids.

Harms related to problem drug use include drug-related litter, increased criminal activity, increased risk of infectious diseases passed through shared syringes and needles, substance use disorders, overdoses, and death.

The research, commissioned by HSE South West and Cork City Council, undertaken by the School of Public Health at UCC — and aided by colleagues in the Health Research Board and National Suicide Research Foundation — used recent available data and trends over several years to provide a snapshot of the scale of problem drug use in Cork city.

Findings included in the report, from a four-source capture-recapture analysis, estimated that there were 859 opioid users in Cork city in 2022 whose use was deemed to be problematic, which equates to a prevalence rate of 5.59 users per 1,000 in population. Of these users, it was estimated that 74.5% were male, with almost two thirds (61.7%) being between 35 and 64 years of age.

Just under one third (31.4%) were between 25 and 34 years of age, while 6.9% were aged 24 years or less.

OPIOIDS

While figures show that the prevalence of opioid use remained relatively stable between 2019 and 2022, trends have shown a gradual reduction in the number of cases entering problem drug use treatment for these substances in Cork city, as an increase in the number of cases accessing treatment services for cocaine use was observed.

Between 2014–15 and 2019–20, the percentage of Irish National Drug and Alcohol Survey respondents aged 15–64 years old who reported using cocaine — including crack — at some point in their lives, increased from 7.8% to 8.3%.

Between 2018 and 2021, there was a total of 487 self-harm presentations related to problem drug use by Cork city residents.

Benzodiazepines were found to be the drug implicated most often in self-harm presentations (63.2%), followed by opioids (30.6%), gabapentinoids (11.9%), and cocaine (9%). During this period, there was a total of 140 poisoning deaths due to problem drug use recorded, with an average of 35 deaths each year.

David Lane, HSE representative for the Cork local drug and alcohol task force, said: “This eagerly anticipated report is a milestone which marks the HSE’s commitment to strengthen the region’s response to support very vulnerable people on their path to recovery from addiction.”