Cocaine Destroying Rural Ireland

screamer

Alcohol is completely vilified, while drugs are just allowed run rampant. I see teenagers I know of under 18 with parents ferrying them to house parties and even providing the alcohol for them….. how long till the little darlings start dabbling in drugs? Too permissive and parents who don’t parent. As for rural Ireland well, it’s destroyed full stop. You can’t get a litre of milk past 6 o clock in most little villages, but drugs are no bother. Government don’t care, gardai couldn’t be bothered, I don’t blame them. I think if people want to use drugs well leave them on, If, with all the information out there, on the dangers and problems with drugs, they are too thick to make good choices, it’s their own problem. Idiots be idiots, leave them on.

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120596592#Comment_120596592

....as a species, we ve been dabbling in mind altering substances since the year dot, i.e. its a part of the human experience, some are more vulnerable than others, this to has probably always been the case, laws or no laws, aint gonna stop us doing this, ever.....

screamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120596604#Comment_120596604

Yep exactly, the only thing that can actually keep someone on a good path is themselves. People don’t care anymore, I think shame was a big motivator in the past, that’s gone now, as it should be, but pride should have replaced that, people don’t care, it’s whatever they want, whenever they want, consequences be damned. Idiots.

Guildenstern

Wouldn't be a drugs problem if the middle class vermin who regularly take it on a night out, do it.

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120596625#Comment_120596625

...all of us can easily end up on the 'wrong path', it only takes an event, a trauma, etc, and you re off! all humans are susceptible to this, all of us, but some are far more vulnerable than others!

...people do care, probably most people do, while some truly couldnt give a fcuk, thankfully theyre in the minority, for now anyway...

...shame never worked, it just pushed dysfunctions further behind closed doors, a lot of addiction is based in shame

...people are severally stressed, this is leading to serious social dysfunctions, including addictions

Yurt2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120596085#Comment_120596085

I could take you to places in Tokyo and Seoul where you'll get your fix if you want it. Drugs are liberally used in the club scene in Japan and South Korea.

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120596634#Comment_120596634

...really!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120596662#Comment_120596662

..oh id say the Philippines is still a washing with them also, only difference now is, those that required paying off, got even bigger payoffs!

Beechwoodspark

Wait until crack cocaine hits outside of the m50.

It is huge in the city centre at moment.

Only a matter of time?

Guildenstern

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120596680#Comment_120596680

Yes, really. And we've been too soft on both users and dealers.

Beechwoodspark

There’s a story doing the rounds In midlands of a well known sportsman owing big drug debts to a gang. And he threatened another gang on them.

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120596735#Comment_120596735

....maybe we should do what the Philippines done, and make sure authorities are paid off more, so more can be bought and sold, and everyone becomes a winner!

Dyr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120596680#Comment_120596680

Ah yes, the boys who have no problem going anecdotal once it suits them

I don’t think it’s a great idea to legalise drugs that can kill you by putting your heart into an immediate irregularity, eg Gerry Ryan and many more examples exist of sudden death due to cocaine and likes of Fentanyl too which suppressed breathing.

Who exactly would be authorised to sell these items? The criminal drug dealers becoming legitimate businessmen? The local pharmacist who is highly reluctant to sell solpadeine never mind a pack of coke? Henry Street traders? You can’t get melatonin as a sleep aid here without a prescription. So are doctors now to prescribe deadly medicines because patients find them fun?

Legalising dangerous drugs is never ever going to happeN in a responsible democracy.

Dyr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120596177#Comment_120596177

Why would we kill them?

Put them in prison for very long periods. Don't do illegal drugs, don't sell illlegal drugs and don't smuggle illegal drugs, They're illegal so you will got to prison for quite some time,

Yurt2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120597073#Comment_120597073

Don't care if you believe or disbelieve. Narcotics use is widespread in certain circles in both countries. I could take you on a tour and show you myself. I don't partake as I have a rule that I don't f*ck around with illegal substances in countries I'd rather not do prison time in (and haven't touched any illegal substance in many years), but there's plenty of usage of illegal substances in both South Korea and Japan if you know where to look. Meth is a growing phenomenon among Japanese housewives bizzarely enough. And meth has been the number one narcotic in the country since WW2 and it never went away.

There is no make-believe land where drugs aren't consumed because of what's on the statute books.

Tomaldo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120597073#Comment_120597073

Why don't you google "Kieran Boylan drugs" to see what our own police force were up to. This guy was caught with over a million euros worth of heroin and coke and never charged, it was said he was working as an informant for a different unit of the Gardai. Nobody was disciplined for it and GSOC said their investigation was obstructed. How often does this happen.

Tomaldo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120597081#Comment_120597081

We literally don't have enough prison spaces for this to happen.

Tomaldo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120597074#Comment_120597074

A responsible democracy shouldn't allow this trade to be controlled by criminals. America tried it with alcohol many years and look how that turned out. Now we have history repeating itself, as someone said "the definition of insanity..........."

lolokeogh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120596726#Comment_120596726

Fact dublin city is destroyed with it,the new norm for a night out seems to be pints a a 50 bag,and that is with a lot of folk,young and not so young,as outside of dublin and citys yes small towns are been filled with it,young folk ending up with huge bills and ofcourse that leads to all sorts or personal issues.dealers will throw any amounts of coke at folk,mixed to death,so really if a bills no paid they are not out of packet a great deal,but the pressure is put on for the cash back.and the problem is only going top get bigger

MrMusician18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120595832#Comment_120595832

I'd agree but coke use is also rife in sports clubs as well.

It's hard to put any real reason on why people turn to it other than that they like it.

Big Gerry

Anybody that can afford to be a regular coke user probably has too much money.

Yurt2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120596423#Comment_120596423

The only true mandatory sentance in Ireland is that of murder and capital murder. There is a carve-out in the legislation for lesser sentencing in drug dealing of significant amounts of prohibited substances (actually, its 10k worth of substances, which in 2023, isn't all that much really - inflation eh?) when cooperation is provided to Gardai or other mitigating circumstances. Higher Courts would likely shoot-down a true mandatory sentance in legislation as they did with firearms possession on the basis of Article 34 of the Constitution, which basically says that justice is administered in the courts, not in the Oireachtas.

Mandatory minimum sentances are for the most part bad for the justice system. Why would anyone plead guilty when you can take the chance in front of a jury to see can you beat the charge - after all, the sentance will be the same if you fessed up anyway. The courts would be clogged up with people taking a chance that they'll somehow slip out of a conviction with some legal voodoo.

orangerhyme

I think we'll always have lots of recreational drug use cos we've a drinking and partying culture.

Ive noticed really that the types you wouldn't think would be in to drugs are in to pills and coke. The straight-laced types.

When I was in college it was the raver, alternative types were in to pills and nobody else. Drugs were vilified and demonised. Weed/hash was considered harmless.

I remember someone took coke on their J1 and people spoke about it like he'd taken heroin.

Also 25 years ago there was almost no drugs in rural Ireland.

What are the long term effects of recreational cocaine use?

Let's say the type of person who does a few lines at the weekend. Maybe not every weekend but regularly at least.

Heart problems, depression, anxiety, paranoia?

Maybe educate people on the long term effects.

I know people will answer "I'm here for a good time, not a long time"

It can't be good for brain chemistry.

I don't think you can police away the problem.

You'll always have customers and dealers.

Low level dealers make €1000 a week for a few hours work. It's too tempting.

A dealer in Dublin told me that and offered me a free sample!

The amount of study and hard work to earn that type of money is incomparable.

John_Rambo

I'm noticing a lot more rural accents in Dublin City amongst the homeless & beggars. They have the high pitched whinge, but certainly Mayo, Galway, Kildare, Wexford & midland accents. Very sad, they seem to have hit rock bottom & must have little or no familial support in the city, my heart goes out to them.

Years a go I was working in Ballsbridge and there was a soft spoken country fella knocking around, obviously a drinker & a user on very hard times. He was really embarrassed to ask for money & used to just hover around looking hopeless. I used to buy him rolls in the local deli (I was very junior and used to buy all the lunches & keep the change, that money was used for him). I saw him one early winter morning knocking back cans of cider whilst crying. Tears rolling down his cheeks. I was pretty young and it hit me and my little privileged head! Felt so bad for him and it still resonates with me to this day. Now that I'm not so naive I often wonder if he's dead, did he have kids, did he get his **** together.

HBC08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120595905#Comment_120595905

That reads like an article in a provincial paper from the 80s.

sameoldname

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120597819#Comment_120597819

I do know one guy who told me the biggest problem he had with it was that he couldn't have any fun on a night out without it. Which is pretty sad really.

I honestly don't know why you would want to take a drug that messes with your dopamine and serotonin levels. Well, actually I do know but seeing as you build up a tolerance to it, it seems like an expensive pathway to misery in my opinion.

fire_man

Do you thing usage is more than 4.8% among 18 to 34 yr olds?

orangerhyme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120597859#Comment_120597859

That's my impression.

You're robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Short term high for long term misery.

The best high is from playing sports I think.

Yurt2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120597896#Comment_120597896

Modern consumer culture, the internet etc means our collective brains are wired for instant gratification instead of the pleasures of delayed gratification.

A long term project, learning a new skill, months in the gym training for a competition. Why bother when you can impulsively order tat from Amazon, watch smut online, or have a nose beer to make yourself feel instantly good? Not my attitude, especially as I get older, but it's easily understood how people can fall for these false Gods when striving for a degree of hapiness in life.

A lot of our economy is based around facilitating people to make impulsive decisions, open their wallets and get an instant if fleeting feel-good hit.

orangerhyme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120597910#Comment_120597910

Super normal stimulus

pgj2015

As I said on another thread lately, If I ever had kids, the main thing I would want them to be is themselves and not a clone of everyone else.

No one forces anyone to take coke on a night out, I know lots of people take it but most people don't. Its such a pointless drug in my experience, expensive cut with all sorts and makes the user act like a knob.

You are weak if you act like a sheep and take coke because everyone else is taking it, cop on and stay away from it. This thread is the way a lot of people act now, its always someone elses fault.

StupidLikeAFox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120597074#Comment_120597074

The thing is that drugs are currently illegal and they are booming. It sound counter productive, but it would lead to better outcomes if people could get quality controlled drugs from their gp or pharmacist.

You have to accept that more people now are doing drugs, is it better to get that from a drug dealer or a professional who can provide dosage advice, oversight, intervention etc? I

don't know what the ideal system is but absolute prohibition is not it

John_Rambo

Getting back to the thread title, the only person I know of that has a cocaine problem now is a relative of my wife who's a young rural man. Disaster. Gambling and cocaine seems to have ruled his life making employment, relationships & housing difficult for him. He's in his forties and his parents (who are getting on in age) are afraid to leave him home alone on their small farm for fear of people he owes money to & simply his inability to operate as an adult. They're genuinely worried he'd burn the house down by accident if they went on holiday.

You couldn't meet a nicer fella but he's a mess, bouts of depression, trying to extract himself from his similar minded friends. To add to the problems he lost his licence to drive recently and anyone rural will know the implications of that. We don't know where it's going to end, parents have poured money in to the problem over the last five years.

lumphammer2

Cocaine is a problem in rural Ireland .... far from a new one though .... I think things like smoking ban ... Garda station closures .... and Covid all lead to an increase in cocaine taking .... in my area in pubs cars pull up near the smoking area ... deals are done outside ....it is normal for people to be outside in smoking ban era Ireland to smoke so are not obvious coke customers at all .... this type of thing goes on with years .... it needs to be stopped ....

Some think it is fun harmless .... craic ... night out ... but it kills people .... it creates burglaries .... it facilitates all types of gangland .... yet many think cocaine is the best thing ever made .... people openly talk about doing cocaine even dealing cocaine in pubs on buses/trains in gyms ... they don't even try to hide it now ... the new normal?? ... Sadly yes ....

Bobtheman

It might be worth looking at how we deal with addicts. Do we have enough recovery centres? We know the answer there.

We need to invest in recovery centres and groups. Smart recovery etc

Quitelife

Rural Ireland has gone from the Tourists dreeam holiday location to villages & Towns living in fear of Drug gangs with no garda stations to help whilst TD's ignore their constituency been destroyed by drug gangs .

Rural ireland is becoming like Mexico just without all the murders. We have families going to credit unions ,banks trying to get loans for drug debts, we have young men and women getting bad beatings off drugs gangs , suicides & emmigration of young people over cocaine . Older people have stopped socialising in their communities due to fear of drug dealers. Burgaleries & petty crime is everywhere with nowhere to report it. Local CCTV man is flat out installing CCTV & bolt locks set ups in houses that 20 years ago had their doors open for neighbours to drop in.

The whole drug trade in our part of Rural Munster is controlled by travellers and they can do what they like laughing at the Dublin media saying how great a bunch of lads they are.

Yurt2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120598163#Comment_120598163

While I do accept that there is a definite pattern of growing drug use in all parts of Ireland, comparing rural Ireland to Mexico is rather over-egging the pudding don't you think? Rural Ireland in general is one of the safest places in the world.

There's a high degree of fear-mongering in the above post.

Beechwoodspark

They say a lot of the sudden “drop dead of a heart attack” with no prior symptoms type of deaths lately especially younger men could be down to the aul “devil’s snuffbox”

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120598120#Comment_120598120

...we re probably never gonna appropriately fund this critical element of our health system.....

Thelonious Monk

You can drop the "rural" thing really, cocaine use is all over Ireland, and all over Europe really. All walks of life take it in Ireland at every rung of society. So introducing Duerte style laws as some of the usual suspects here would love, would mean the country wouldn't be able to function pretty quickly as half of us would be locked up or executed.

It's a tough one, people love drugs and always will. The war on drugs doesn't work and our Garda are already completely overstretched. Drugs are not going to go away so probably the best thing to do would be to invest in social services for those struggling with drugs. From my experience though most people can dabble a bit and still live normal lives, I'm not sure how you'd stop them dabbing some MDMA at a gig or snorting the odd line of coke, or why they shouldn't be allowed to do it.

tesla_newbie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120598163#Comment_120598163

Careful what you say, their is such a thing as bad truth nowadays so you can’t state that “ the drug trade is controlled by travellers in parts of the country “

that’s an indecent truth and soon to be truth which is classed as “ hate crime “

lmao10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120599011#Comment_120599011

There are a variety of dealers in different areas. My college campus and some others would have dealers who come from middle class areas. Their suppliers who are well known around the world are never mentioned by any "patriots". It's easier to target travellers and immigrants.

tesla_newbie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120599062#Comment_120599062

No traveller dealers on college campuses?, well I’ll be damned

lmao10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120599180#Comment_120599180

Well we can see why you're crying about the new hate speech laws coming in. Clearly you've got an issue with travellers.

tesla_newbie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120599218#Comment_120599218

Anyone with an ounce of life experience has an issue with travellers

Flaneur OBrien

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120598163#Comment_120598163

I live in a village of 300 people. This is utter fear mongering nonsense.

tabby aspreme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120597534#Comment_120597534

I was at a sports club, awards function, recently, lots of coke about, a bag fell out of one lads pocket on the dance floor, he just picked it up like you would a coin and continued dancing, he went to a private school and is in teacher training college, he won't be much of a role model for kids

rob316

I supply pubs on a daily basis and when I talk to the owners they all say it cocaine is out of control, probably the biggest problem they have. Security needed on quieter nights too so has increased costs.

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120599487#Comment_120599487

he might be an amazing role model for kids. most people nowadays dabble with drugs at some stage in their lives in this part of the world, it doesn't make them bad people.

Royale with Cheese

I'm always amazed at how prevalent cocaine use is in Ireland when you see how much it costs. I'd have thought the price of keeping a habit going would be enough to deter most people, apparently not. It's not like it's replacing drink either, people are paying for it on top of that.