The Health Research Board (HRB) Alcohol Overview was published in April 2021, the fourth in a series that provides updates on alcohol consumption, its related harms, and policy responses in Ireland.¹ Using the HRB National Drugs Library, the overview is compiled using a variety of Irish data sources, published Irish literature, and existing information systems and surveys.

Substance use in young people (aged 10–24 years) is a significant health and social problem throughout the world. The 2013 Global Burden of Disease estimated that substance use among young men was responsible for 14% of total health burden. Recent findings have underlined the neurobiological vulnerability of young adults and the impact of co-occurring substance use disorders and mental health problems that emerge in adolescence. Adolescence is the peak period for initiation of substance use. A consistent finding from the international literature is that levels and frequency of use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco begin to increase in mid-adolescence and peak in very early adulthood. These are key periods of change, cognitive and emotional development, and transitioning into employment, stable relationships, and parenthood.

On 11 March 2021, a ministerial meeting of the Misuse of Substances work sector of the British–Irish Council (BIC) was held online. The Irish Government is the lead administration for this strand of work. The meeting was chaired by Frank Feighan TD, Minister of State for Public Health, Wellbeing and the National Drugs Strategy. The meeting was also attended by ministers from the Northern Ireland Executive, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey, and the British Government.¹

In August 2020, the Law Reform Commission (LRC) published a report on suspended sentences.¹ The report, which was carried out as part of the Fourth Programme of Law Reform, examines how the principles of suspended sentences are operated and applied in Ireland. It builds on the LRC 2017 document, Issues paper: Suspended sentences.² The overall aim of the report is to improve and supplement these principles from a practical and procedural perspective (p. 11).¹

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) published the European drug report 2021: trends and developments¹ on 9 June 2021. The purpose of this report is to provide an overview and summary of the European drug situation up to the end of 2020. The analysis offered in the report must be regarded as preliminary due to the impact of Covid-19. The Health Research Board (HRB) provides the Irish data and research for the EMCDDA report.

The annual report published by the Mental Health Information Systems Unit of the Health Research Board, Activities of Irish psychiatric units and hospitals 2019,¹ shows that the rate of new admissions to inpatient care for alcohol disorders has decreased.

The annual report from National Self-Harm Registry Ireland was published in 2020.¹ The report contains information relating to every recorded presentation of deliberate self-harm to acute hospital emergency departments in Ireland in 2019 and complete national coverage of cases treated. All individuals who were alive on admission to hospital following deliberate self-harm were included, along with the methods of deliberate self-harm that were used. Accidental overdoses of medication, street drugs, or alcohol were not included.

High rates of self-harm are consistently seen among young people in Ireland and other countries. The incidence of hospital-presenting self-harm peaks among young people, who most often engage in intentional drug overdose (IDO). In addition, the risk of self-harm repetition is also high among young people, with several countries reporting increases in youth self-harm since 2017.^1,2,3 These trends are of concern, considering the association between self-harm and increased risk of suicide in young people, with repeated self-harm further elevating this risk. However, little is known about patterns of repetition and method-switching following IDO among young people.

In January 2021, the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service (IGEES) published a report on the impact of the pandemic on services and people who use drugs.¹ The report was prepared by staff in the Research Services and Policy Unit and Health Analytics Division in the Department of Health on behalf of the department’s Drugs Policy and Social Inclusion Unit. The report is based on two surveys undertaken in 2020. An article outlining the findings of the first survey, the Mini-European Web Survey on Drugs: Covid-19, was published in issue 76 of Drugnet Ireland.² Data collection for the second, the Survey of Drug and Alcohol Services, was completed via an online survey and by email between August and September 2020.¹

Following the opiate epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s, the United States (US) and many countries across Europe have seen a significant increase in the proportion of older individuals with a drug dependency and those receiving drug treatment. In 2017, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) reported that clients over the age of 40 receiving methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) had increased from 20% to 40% between 2006 and 2015.¹ These trends are also reflected in Irish data, with a growing number of clients over the age of 35 receiving treatment for opiate use since 2009.²

Schools are an important setting for the delivery of prevention and harm reduction interventions to adolescents. In April 2021, based on the findings of systematic reviews published in 2020, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) updated the evidence on its Best Practice Portal (BPP) concerning school-based programmes to improve young people’s mental health and wellbeing and reduce risks related to substance use. They relate to school-based multicomponent positive psychology interventions (MCPPIs), school anti-bullying interventions, and e-health school-based interventions.^1,2

The purpose of a nursing model is to define the underpinning theory and concepts that guide nursing practice. To date, there is no nursing model specific to addiction services; however, several general models of nursing are frequently used in this context. An external review undertaken by Strang¹ described current models used within addiction services internationally as task-oriented and reactive, with little time available for nurses to work flexibly to client need. This contrasts with the understanding that service provision should support a person-centred journey to recovery.

The Civil Society Forum on Drugs (CSFD) is an expert group of civil society organisations (CSOs) in the European Commission that supports the commission in its drug policy formulation and implementation.¹ One of its four working groups focuses on supporting and promoting the European Union’s (EU) 2015 minimum quality standards in drug demand reduction.² In January 2020, CSFD published its guidelines and recommendations for the implementation of minimum quality standards by CSOs,³ followed in 2021 by a CFSD advocacy plan for the promotion and implementation of minimum quality standards in drug demand reduction.⁴

As previously outlined in Drugnet Ireland, the Best Practice Portal of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) is designed to help practitioners find practical and reliable information on what works (and what does not) in the areas of prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and social reintegration.¹ It aims to support these stakeholders to identify tried and tested interventions quickly, allocate resources to what is effective, and improve interventions applying tools, standards, and guidelines. As part of the portal, the EMCDDA hosts and maintains the Xchange prevention registry² and the Healthy Nightlife Toolbox (HNT).³ Stakeholders can use these registries to make evidence-based decisions about effective interventions.

The Tabor Group is a provider of residential addiction treatment services in Ireland. It aims to offer hope, healing, and recovery to clients suffering from addictions through integrated and caring services. In addition to three residential facilities, the organisation provides a continuing care programme to clients who have completed treatment in order to assist with their recovery. It also offers counselling to families whose loved ones are struggling with an addiction. In 2020, the Tabor Group published its annual report.¹ This article highlights services provided by the Tabor Group to individuals with a substance use addiction in 2019.

AcoRN, the UK-Ireland Alcohol Research Network, was formally launched on Thursday, 29 April 2021.¹ The aim of AcoRN is to generate and build capacity for interdisciplinary research into the development, adoption, implementation, and evaluation of alcohol policy innovation in Ireland and the United Kingdom (UK).

The National Family Support Network (NFSN)¹ ceased operations on Monday, 26 April 2021. The original Family Support Network was established in 2000 following the successful organisation by family support groups of the first Service of Commemoration and Hope. This spiritual, multidenominational service is held in remembrance of loved ones lost to substance misuse and related causes and to publicly support and offer hope to families living with the devastation that substance misuse causes. Subsequent to the success of this event and the evident desire of families to continue with such events, the Family Support Network was formed under the auspices of the CityWide Drugs Crisis Campaign.

The HRB National Drugs Library,¹ based within the Health Research Board, supports those working to develop the knowledge base around drug, alcohol, and tobacco use in Ireland. In February 2021, staff of the library asked visitors to its website to fill in a short survey about their experience of the website and library services. Forty-two responses were received and some of the survey findings are presented here.