Leading counsellor believes cocaine is more readily available than pizza

Cocaine is more readily available than pizza and many of those dealing are using social media as a platform and means to dispense their wares, a leading counsellor said.
Psychotherapist Martin McFadden, Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP), and who holds a Masters in Therapeutic Interventions in Alcohol and other Drugs is of the opinion that issues with drugs are evident in classrooms. He believes dealers are not only hanging around the school gates but are actually sitting in the classroom environment, such is the extent of the escalation of the issue.
“Dealers are no longer at the school gates, dealers are now in classrooms. Ten years ago I would have said that there would have been a dealer in a town, now every town has dozens of dealers - social media has made it a business,” he said.
Rather than asking for hard cash, customers are now being encouraged by their dealers to pay by card or online transfers.
According to a recent report from the United Nations, titled The Global Report on Cocaine 2023 from the United Nations Office, Irish people are now the joint fourth highest consumers, relatively speaking, of cocaine in the world. Australia, Spain and the Netherlands are the countries higher on the list.
Martin says although he is deeply concerned with the findings of this report he is not surprised.
“Anyone who would have been paying attention would have seen this coming,” he says. “We, the Irish, have a reputation when we go at something we go at it awful hard.”

Reasons

Martin believes there are a number of reasons for the escalation in cocaine usage. From a global perspective supply of the drug is at record levels, cultivation and production worldwide, he says, have doubled between the years 2013 and 2017.
“There was a noticeable decline in usage, as with other drugs, during the pandemic,” he adds. “We seem to have to come back from lockdown more pumped than ever, it seems almost as if people are partying harder trying to make up for lost time.
“The whole business model around cocaine is expanding all the time, different pathways of distribution are being developed.
“Organised crime gangs are becoming more adept and more creative at getting their product out there. In many ways the pandemic itself created a perfect storm and set of conditions for all of this to come about.
“Cocaine is often used in social settings, like pubs, clubs and other social venues.It is a powerful stimulant that makes you feel more alert and energetic and also less hungry or thirsty.
“But this feeling is short-lived. It wears off very quickly, usually well within the hour, so the user will very often want another line and another hit fairly quickly. As with many other drugs cocaine can be psychologically addictive, it can also have very serious and sometimes fatal consequences in terms of heart attacks, strokes, bleeds on the brain and so on.
“Again data would suggest that people in their twenties and thirties would be presenting more regularly in A&E's with these kinds of conditions.”

Social media

Martin, a Kilcar native, is of the understanding that social media platforms are playing a major part in the promotion, sale and distribution of the drug in Donegal and across the country.
“In some instances dealers will brazenly send you a demo of their product,” Martin adds. “You can check for yourself the purity and quality of that product in the comfort of your own home. When you consider the open and free access as well as the time spent by our young people online on these platforms you will quickly come to realise the dangers that our children and young adults are being exposed to 24/7.
Martin adds that you won't find any disclaimers on platforms to say doing cocaine could potentially kill you.
“Where a mysterious dealer would take your cash and walk off into the night,” Martin says of the old-school perception, which is so far from how things work in reality.
“Those dealers still exist but there are now many more dealers, many of whom are dealing in broad daylight. Many are also dealing to finance their own habit. Cocaine is not cheap, average prices could be anything from €70 up to €100-plus a gramme, so if you are doing a couple of grams every weekend then the costs will add up fairly quickly so something else invariably will suffer as a result. Many users are now finding themselves in serious debt as a result of their habit.”
The drug was also associated with certain areas in towns and cities in the past but Martin says the problem now has seeped into country lanes and people from every walk of life are using the drug.
“Evidence from various sources including treatment centres suggests farmers for some reason have also been identified as a cohort who are being seriously impacted by the cocaine epidemic,” he says. “A National Drug and Alcohol Survey reported last year as well that there had been a six-fold increase in cocaine use by women aged between 15 and 34, compared with the five years previously.”

Difficulties on the horizon
The negative impacts of drug addiction and all affiliated with it will soon be evidenced in Irish society, Martin believes.
“Societal conditions have also created a space where more people who are finding it difficult to manage and to make ends meet are using alcohol and other drugs like cocaine as a means of escape, albeit temporarily,” he adds. “For a lot of people, reality for whatever reason is not nice right now. There is a lot of fear, apprehension, uncertainty and anxiety out there, more so than I have ever seen before, and that too is fueling the fire.
On the back of recent reports highlighting Ireland’ cocaine crisis, Simon Harris, Minister for Further & Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and Justice, addressed the Dáil.
“He berated recreational drug users suggesting they were funding and supporting these criminal gangs by their casual weekend drug use,” Martin says. “It's much easier for him to point the finger and apportion blame than to actually dig down and find out why people are doing what they are doing.
“Minister Harris also suggested deploying more undercover gardaí into the pubs and nightclubs of Ireland to clamp down on these casual users. With all due respect to Minister Harris, I feel that particular train has long since left the station. Pardon the pun, but the minister and his government colleagues are well behind the line on this one.”
Martin is keen to point out that he does not excuse criminality but he does believe that people who take drugs should not be judged but rather dealt with in a compassionate and humanistic manner.
“Good people often make poor choices and that doesn't make them bad people," he says.
“It’s long past time for proper health-led approaches in this country, the war on drugs has been well and truly lost at this stage.”
Martin also outlined his frustration of having seen various drug strategies by consecutive governments fail miserably over the years.
“We wouldn’t be where we are now if these policies had focused more on delivering proper education, early intervention, treatment and rehabilitation instead of the heavy handed judicial approach that they have consistently taken,” he says.
He also voiced his scepticism in relation to the people’s forum on drugs which is currently taking place as a knee jerk reaction to the drugs and cocaine crisis.
“One-hundred random people will discuss and no doubt bring some good solid recommendations to government to inform potential future legislation but I feel based on past form these recommendations will be acknowledged, the forum will be thanked and will not be acted upon,” says Martin, who is of the opinion the issue with drugs and the impact they have on people and society is complex.
“The percentage of people who present in acute settings face many challenges, particularly if they are cross-addicted and/or if they struggle with their mental health and an addiction running alongside,” he says. “Services are just not there, those that are there, are under equipped and under funded therefore getting clean, sober and well can be a seriously big ask.”

Hopeful
Describing himself as a hopeful and positive person in general, Martin says he is struggling to see any positive news in relation to the current situation. He says he has always been of the opinion that decriminalisation was the way to go.
“People should have autonomy and be allowed to make their own choices even though these choices can sometimes be ill informed and have negative outcomes,” he says.
“People should not be criminalised as a result of their choices. I would have reservations however about the full legalisation of drugs for a number of different reasons, illegal has always implied bad whereas legal suggests it’s ok, it's good, and that is not always the case where drugs are concerned.
“Either way drugs and cocaine are here to stay whether we like it or not and I'm really at a loss to know if there’s much we can do about it.”
Martin plans to continue working at Tabor House in Donegal Town with people on an individual basis who have issues relating to alcohol and other drugs.
“Even though recovery is challenging, he believes it’s still possible to turn one's life around regardless of the situation, people can always turn their life around - we all need to believe that.”