Sex, Drugs, and Gee Gees: Irish Addictions

With the wrap-up of this year’s Cheltenham festival and my bank account echoing from backing all the wrong gee gees[1], I decided to take a closer look into the elusive snare of addiction in Ireland. Here I take a brief look at drug, gambling, and sex addiction[2] over the past two decades.

Substance Abuse

The results show an almost even distribution of poisoning and non-poisoning drug-related deaths in Ireland from 2004-2020

Drug and substance abuse has risen across Ireland since regular surveying began in 2002. 806 people died due to drug use in 2020, bringing the total number of drug-related deaths between 2004 – 2020 to 11,086, just over half of which were due to poisoning, i.e. overdose. The annual number of drug-related deaths increased by 87% during this period, from 431 in 2004 to 806 in 2020 (CityWide, 2023).

Opiates (mainly heroin) are the main causes of drug-induced deaths – there were an estimated 19,875 problem opioid users aged 15-64 in 2019; however, benzodiazepines, cocaine, and methadone also rank high for overdose deaths (HRB, 2022).

See help for addiction support on Citizens Information.

Gambling

Gambling is a benign hobby for most people in Ireland – 96.5% of respondents to the 2019 – 2020 National Drug and Alcohol Survey reported non-problem gambling; however, according to the report 2.3% (90,000 adults) are low-risk gamblers, 0.9% (35,000 adults) are moderate-risk gamblers, and 0.3% (12,000 adults) are problem gamblers (Mongan et al., 2022).

Main sources of gambling in Ireland include lottery, bingo, bookmakers’ shops, and online betting apps. Also interesting to note, out of the at-risk and problem gamblers surveyed, almost all reported alcohol use disorder (AUD); the report suggests that gambling addiction is highly influenced by substance abuse and deprived economic conditions.

GamblingCare.ie provides a range of supports for those with gambling problems.

Frequency of Gambling Activity – 2019 – 2020 National Drug and Alcohol Survey

Pruriency

Sex addiction is a rapidly growing problem area in Ireland where there is a paucity of specialist therapy services available. The education surrounding sexual health and conduct must compete with the Wild West of material available online, exacerbated by Irish society’s lack of sex education and attitude of ‘sweeping-shame-under-the-rug’ which prohibits a widespread discourse on the subject.

Sex therapists identify the effects of sex addiction as unplanned pregnancies, the transmission of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), substance abuse, impacts on body image, suicide, and, if left untreated, can act as a proponent for criminal sex offences such as sexual assault, paedophilia, and rape (Keane, 2021).

Sexualwellbeing.ie provides resources about sexual health and supports.

[1] Horses

[2] Any form of compulsive sexual behaviour

References

CityWide (2023) Drug use and associated problems in Ireland: Citywide – Drugs Crisis campaign, CityWide. Available at: https://www.citywide.ie/decriminalisation/ireland/drug-use.html (Accessed: 24 March 2024).

HRB (2022) HRB report shows a decline in problem opioid use among younger age groups, hrb.ie. Available at: https://www.hrb.ie/news/press-releases/single-press-release/article/hrb-report-shows-a-decline-in-problem-opioid-use-among-younger-age-groups/ (Accessed: 24 March 2024).

Mongan, D. et al. (2022) Gambling in the Republic of Ireland, http://www.hrb.ie. (Accessed: 24 March 2024).

Keane, B. (2021) Overhaul Ireland’s sex education or face an addiction epidemic , Irish Examiner. Available at: https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/people/arid-40244855.html (Accessed: 24 March 2024).