The non-medical use of prescription drugs has become a global health concern. Non-medical usage is defined as the taking of prescription drugs, whether obtained by prescription or otherwise, except in the manner or for the reasons or time period prescribed, or by a person for whom the drug was not prescribed.¹ The non-medical use of pharmaceuticals is a unique category of substance misuse in a number of ways, as the scale of the problem is largely unknown owing to lack of data. This is partly due to the existence of many gaps in the monitoring of their legal use for medical purposes. In addition, most studies on, and monitoring instruments for, substance abuse pertain to the use of illegal drugs or alcohol and tobacco.

The mission of the Pompidou Group of the Council of Europe is to contribute to the development of multidisciplinary, innovative, effective and evidence-based drug policies in its member states.¹ Since the late 1980s, it has worked to support the integration of a gender dimension into drug policies and has delivered on a number of activities in this area of policy.² The group is currently running a project on implementing a gender approach in different drug policy areas: from prevention, care, and treatment services to law enforcement and the criminal justice system. It is based on an understanding that the gender dimension includes women, men, transgender, and intersex people. The Irish team taking part in this project is made up of representatives from academia, the Department of Health, and drug services.³ As part of their work, they published a paper on gender and Irish drug policy in April 2020.⁴

UBU Your Place Your Space is a new, targeted youth-funding scheme launched by the then Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr Katherine Zappone TD, in December 2019.¹ It targets young people who are marginalised, disadvantaged, or vulnerable, and aims to provide services that support them. These include services that cover health, education, employment, and social connectedness. It combines four pre-existing overlapping schemes, including the Young People’s Facilities and Services Fund and the local drug task force projects. The scheme explicitly supports the delivery of action 1.2.8 in the National Drugs Strategy: to improve services for young people at risk of substance misuse in socially and economically disadvantaged communities.²

Recent research and reports have highlighted the drug pregabalin due to its potential for dependence and abuse, and an increase in pregabalin-related overdose deaths in several European countries. As a prescription-only central nervous system (CNS) depressant analogue to gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), it is used for an array of conditions, including neuropathic pain, epilepsy, generalised anxiety disorder, and fibromyalgia.¹ In a 2020 study published in Heroin Addiction and Related Clinical Problems, Brennan and Van Hout present qualitative insights into the experiences of patients in opioid agonist treatment (OAT) with pregabalin.² The authors selected OAT patients as their study population because of their increased risk for problematic use of pregabalin and overdose.³ Though related research in Ireland is sparse, international evidence has demonstrated that using pregabalin leads to the development of tolerance and withdrawal symptoms when ceased. The combined use of both opiates and pregabalin as two CNS depressants, while highly prevalent, has been shown to increase the risk of overdose and death.⁴ The current study was the first in Ireland to capture the experiences of OAT patients using pregabalin.

In November 2019, Dr Sarah Morton and Dr Megan Curran of University College Dublin published the results of a Tusla-funded study, Fostering understanding, empowering change: practice responses to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and intergenerational patterns of domestic violence.¹

The aim of this study was to examine the experiences of women at the Cuan Saor Women’s Refuge, a domestic violence service in Co Tipperary. The focus was to identify the level of ACEs experienced by the women who accessed the service. Based on the ACEs routine enquiry process, trauma-informed responses (TIRs) to women’s childhood experiences and the intergenerational transmission of trauma were examined as well as the role of ACEs routine enquiry and intervention in relation to infant mental health (IMH), a key area of work for childcare workers within domestic violence (p. 10).

In October 2019, Kieran O’Dwyer, a consultant and trainer within the field of criminal justice and restorative practices, published an article, entitled Reducing youth crime: the role of mentoring.¹ The article discussed the results of an evaluation of a La Chéile mentoring programme, which is delivered to young people aged 12–21 years who come before the criminal courts in Ireland.²