*A leading addiction service is predicting a 70% jump in admissions to its adolescent centre this year.
Chief executive Paul Conlon said admissions among adult women could increase by as much as 64% this year.
Launching the 2013 annual report, Mr Conlon said there were 119 admissions to their specialist adolescent centre last year.
He said there were 101 for the first six months of this year and one in three were aged between 15 and 17.
Mr Conlon said that if the trend continued, the number of adolescents attending their Kilkenny-based service would rise by up to 70%.
Figures for 2013 show cannabis accounted for 62% of admissions to the adolescent centre which caters for 15 to 21-year-olds.
Alcohol was the primary drug in 17% of cases, but many of the cannabis cases involved polydrug users.
Almost three quarters of adult admissions were for alcohol addiction (238 out of 325 cases).
Mr Conlon said 30% of adult admissions were women in 2013, but the figure in one of its units, last June, was 43%. Aiséirí has adult units in Tipperary, Wexford and Waterford.
He pointed out one in four deaths in Ireland in young men aged, 15 to 34, had been due to alcohol.
Mr Conlon urged the Government not to reduce excise duty on alcohol and called for the introduction of minimum pricing and restricted availability of alcohol. “If the price of alcohol goes down, the risk of alcohol harm and addiction goes up, particularly for vulnerable groups like young people and women,” Mr Conlon said.
“It would be irresponsible of the Government to introduce anything that would make alcohol cheaper or more accessible. We are seeing the tragic consequences of Ireland’s drink love-in and it is far from being ‘great craic’ for many individuals and families.”
He said that lowering the price of alcohol by reducing excise, particularly in supermarkets and the off-trade, would greatly increase the risks for those with less money as well as those more likely to binge drink along with women, who are more likely to purchase alcohol at the supermarket.
Mr Conlon said the rise in the number of women being admitted was worrying as they experienced greater health risks from alcohol than men and the onset of drink-related health problems began earlier.
Alcohol Action Ireland has also called on the Government not to cut excise duties, while the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland and the National Off-Licence Association have highlighted the economic damage from excise duty.
Contact Aiséirí on 052-7441166 or visit www.aiseiri.ie
www.drugfreeworld.org & www.drugs.ie & www.drugscope.org.uk & www.spunout.ie
Leading Irish addiction treatment centre, Aiseiri, warned in their 2013 annual report that the problem of poly-drug or multiple drug abuse is now increasing at an alarming rate amongst youngsters. Abuse:
Aiseiri, which operates treatment centres in Tipperary, Wexford and Kilkenny, treated a total of 444 people in 2013.
Their annual report found that the Aislinn treatment centre in Kilkenny - which provides services for young people - had 74 cannabis cases compared to just 20 for adults.
The opposite was true on centres for adults in Tipperary and Wexford which had 226 alcohol addiction admissions compared to 23 for cannabis.
"If we are to tackle abuse, if we are to educate, prevent and change addiction behaviour, we have to resource services for families," Aiseiri chief executive Paul Conlon said.
"While there have been some welcome developments in drug and alcohol policy, we still have no centralised structure or fund to support residential treatment, which we specialise in," he said.
"While the State's policy has moved towards treatment in the community - a move which we welcome - there remains a unique role for residential treatment as part of a comprehensive rehabilitation strategy."
He said it was critical for parents to work with their children to try to postpone drinking until they are 18 years or older.
"I know it is difficult but if we can do that we will help avoid a lot of problems in the long run," he said.
UNICEF found that 48pc of Irish adults admitted to first having gotten drunk before the age of 15 - with alcohol the key to introducing other addictive substances.
But he said there are mounting concerns over people now presenting with multi-drug addictions and the advent of such lethal substances as crystal meth.
Crystal meth
"The reality is that crystal meth the worst type of drug out there. It is so dangerous it is on par with crack cocaine," he said.
A special National Advisory Committee on Drugs (NACD) study found that 72pc of 18-24 years admitted to binge drinking on a monthly basis.
It also found 24pc of 18 to 24-year-olds admitted they had suffered harm as a direct consequence of their drinking.
NACD found in a sample of 15-64 year old adults, that 25pc had used cannabis, with 9pc of those who admitted using cannabis on a regular basis found to have addiction issues.
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*Four out of 10 intentional drug overdoses resulting in hospitalisation involved the abuse of minor tranquillisers, according to a study.
The result prompted calls for a national campaign to “address the availability and misuse” of these drugs, either prescribed or obtained on the street.
The study said that intentional drug overdose (IDO) was the most common form of hospital-treated suicidal behaviour, accounting for up to 85% of self-harm presentations.
The research, the first of its kind, compared results North and South. It was conducted by the National Suicide Research Foundation at University College Cork and the college’s Department of Epidemiology as well as the Public Health Agency in Derry.
It said that between 2007 and 2012 there were 56,494 self harm presentations involving IDOs — 50,394 (89%) in Ireland and 6,100 in the western area of the North.
Based on the respective populations, the rate was lower in Ireland (156 per 100,000 population) than the North (278).
The research said that despite this difference the profile of presentations was remarkably similar in both countries.
It said minor tranquillisers were the drugs most commonly involved in both areas, on average accounting for 40% of presentations.
“National campaigns are required to address the availability and misuse of minor tranquillisers, both prescribed and non-prescribed,” said the report, published in the British Medical Journal.
The figure was higher in Ireland (42%), compared to Northern Ireland (27%). But the figure in the North was higher than the rest of the UK, where paracetamol is the most common drug in IDOs.
Drugs including only paracetamol were involved in 21% of episodes on the island of Ireland.
The research showed that far higher percentage of cases were admitted in the North than in the South.
The study said the higher incidence of episodes in the North could be due to the effects of chronic trauma there.
It said it could also reflect better access to health services in the North — which are free, both in terms of visits to emergency hospital and prescriptions.
The study said that 1,302 antidepressants per 1,000 population were sold in pharmacies in the North (in the period 2007-2012), compared to 725 in Ireland.
Some 388 tranquillisers per 1,000 people were sold in the North (203 in Ireland) and 508 hypnotics and sedatives (431).
Contact: Samaritans, call 116 123; visit www.pieta.ie
Key stats
59% of people presenting were female in Ireland (57% North).
29% were aged 15-24 (27% North) and 24% were aged 25-34 (23%).
Alcohol was involved in 43% of cases (60%).
Self harm repeated in 16% of cases (18%).
36% were admitted to the general ward (64%).
SOURCE: Irish Examiner.
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