Cocaine Destroying Rural Ireland

TagoMago

Out of interest, for people who were in their 20s/30s during the Celtic Tiger years, was there much difference in drugs habits back then? It was a bit before my time but have always heard the country was awash with coke in those days.

skinny90

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120602821#Comment_120602821

it was common but less normal in a social group/setting if that makes sense. say you were at a party it was generally sniffed in a toilet or somewhere else. Now youd have lines on a platter being past openly.

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120602726#Comment_120602726

that's ridiculous. lots of people who had great upbringings and positive parents growing up have also experimented with drugs and do them every now and again. much like people enjoy a few drinks from time to time.

AndrewJRenko

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

What impact have these policies had on drug usage levels in the Philippines?

Stephen_Maturin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120600945#Comment_120600945

Plenty of people take recreational drugs once in a blue moon to enjoy themselves, not to “escape” but as an enhancer to their reality.

Having a few joints or an ecstasy pill every few years is not aberrant behaviour. You’re not going to suddenly find yourself standing in a back alley wearing fingerless gloves and warming your hands over a burning oil drum. Most people grasp this and it leads them to completely ignore the majority of anti drug messaging.

Treat people like adults - explain the risks in an impartial manner, not like some Muinteoir preaching at the top of the class, and they might be more likely to take heed.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120601206#Comment_120601206

They’re selected at random from the population. Are you suggesting that most of the population are woke progressives?

orangerhyme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120602821#Comment_120602821

Drugs were far less prevalent, particularly in rural areas. XTC was common enough but I think lots of people were fearful of it due to media.

Nowadays taking XTC appears as normal in mainstream Hollywood films.

I think the Kinehans distribution network has changed things a lot. However they're bringing it in. I've seen them disguise coke as charcoal.

It means that coke is easy to find and is high purity.

Also lots of people willing to sell it as the profits are enormous.

A low level dealer in Dublin told me he makes €1000 every weekend for just a few hours work.

tesla_newbie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120603269#Comment_120603269

I don’t believe they are “ selected at random “ as you first need to apply, it’s the kind of forum which only progressive activists take an interest in so the lotto pot they pick from has all the same coloured balls

Everything about it is a veneer

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120603380#Comment_120603380

What's wrong with progressive people wanting to have their say? Progression is generally considered a good thing in society

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120603199#Comment_120603199

...it has probably increased, but its probably difficult to prove this.....

joseywhales

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120603169#Comment_120603169

In fairness with cocaine, I find a lot of people lie to themselves about being in total control of their habit, it is a fairly slippery slope. I'd like to know how many recreational users have left an open bag at 2am because they were satisfied with their night out and we're heading to bed to be fresh in the morning.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120603380#Comment_120603380

You don’t apply to join. They are selected at random. Maybe you should do some research before jumping to conclusions?

https://citizensassembly.ie/assembly-on-drugs-use/selection-of-members/

John_Rambo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120603380#Comment_120603380

This is what we get from people getting info from Facebook.

mariaalice

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120603214#Comment_120603214

Occasional use by someone won't cause issues ue for themselves or their family or society is not what it's about, however how does society make sure its only those the use drugs and not those with issues, addiction, self medicating?

growleaves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120603439#Comment_120603439

Shooting dead drug dealers (which I don't agree with) and giving them 12-20 year prison sentences has 'probably increased' drug use in the Philippines?

Even without getting into the question of evidence/proof, can you explain why you think this should be the working assumption?

Count Dracula

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120602821#Comment_120602821

It depended on what you were up to.

Plenty of yokes around and there was coke being used, but not as blatantly as today.

Yokes are cleaner now than the late 90's , but not as good either. i remember necking yokes that cost £ 25. They were worth every penny, you would come up 3 or 4 times on them depending on the chemical make up. That is unheard of now. Old yokes like white doves or rhubarbs and custards. They were chemically engineered to delay the release of endorphins based on your own serotonin. MDMA was discovered by European scientists who were trying to develop an antidepressant for Geriatrics. The search for one thing can always find another.

The only people who don't like Ecstasy can be narrowed down to 3 particular types of human. 1) moron's who believe all the lies spread by gov agencies in attempt to curb its popularity 2) morons who hate getting out of it or enjoying themselves, who also cannot stop at that, they have to ridicule and lambaste any other human trying to have a laugh by tut tutting their existence and shaming anyone who does and of course 3) normal humans who enjoy dancing around with other users, enjoying their phucking heads off and experiencing a great night out.

The coke that is used in Ireland is not even coke, it is garbage. I summered in California in the 90s and did real cocaine. I know the difference. I am sure there are plenty of big shot jikeys out there selling it by the Key who can get their hands on decent mix... and good luck to them, but I have never come across anything close to what I used in California. It was lovely and mental. You can buy gram bags of coke in Brazil for a tenner.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120605260#Comment_120605260

Because for every dead dealer, there's three more waiting behind them for the chance to step up. The War on Drugs isn't winnable.

growleaves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120605613#Comment_120605613

That isn't an answer to the question though.

Death squads murdering drug dealers, and even drug addicts, is no guarantee of wiping out drugs in Philippines obviously and it'll still be lucrative.

But to say that leads to an increase in the drug trade requires some kind of chain of logic be put forward to explain it.

blackbox

i don't have an answer for how to keep them from children, but making drugs illegal for adults is not a solution to the drugs problem.

Adults are responsible for their own actions.

Education is important, but surely every adult already knows that there are risks associated with drugs,including those that are currently legal.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120605695#Comment_120605695

I didn’t say that it leads to an increase. Drug sales are going to increase anyway, with or without killing of dealers. As long as we have buyers, we’ll have dealers.

Nermal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120604016#Comment_120604016

He's not ultimately wrong. They may be selected at random, but they must still agree to participate. Regardless of how representative the initial selection is, the final group will be biased.

John_Rambo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120606813#Comment_120606813

You cannot become a member of the Citizens’ Assembly unless you live at one of the 20,000 randomly selected addresses across Ireland. Of those 20,000 who receive an invitation, invitees are then asked to register their interest should they wish to participate. From these applications, 99 members are selected based on key demographic information including gender, age, geography, and socio-economic factors. This ensures that the members of the Assembly are broadly representative of wider society.

Yakov P. Golyadkin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120606819#Comment_120606819

So a form of controlled self-selection bias.

There is a cohort of people who have no interest in politics, that they rule themselves out doesn't change that the final group is not representative.

Hungry Burger

It’s a strange one, it’s always sort of there on the periphery, but I always find that it’s a very much hidden and clandestine thing for obvious reasons.

It depends on who you keep company with, if your social circle or a lot of people you know are dabblers then it seems that it’s everywhere and the country is awash with the stuff, if you aren’t around people like that then you’d never come across it or notice it.

Gatling

I can remember that it was readily available in the late 90's and Earlyish 2000s even in more rural parts ,I remember been out in Clare Galway, with a mate who was looking for weed local connection didn't have weed or hash but he did have deals of coke, I didn't think anything of it at the time, definitely seen it at parties in cities wasn't expecting to see it in a rural area

buried

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120607721#Comment_120607721

Nah if you have to go for a slash in any pub of a Friday or Saturday night, you will definitely notice it. You'll either notice it or assume the people in the cubicles have a serious gra for seriously inhaling toilet cubicle air through one single nose hole.

Last year I went to a gig in the city and during the middle of it I had to go for a slash. There was a que for 14 feet outside the cubicles and all you could hear inside the cubicle was the gra for seriously inhaling toilet cubicle air. Either that or cocaine. People were looking at me like I was a lunatic for going to take a p!ss. Bar was basically empty at the thing too.

Count Dracula

Definitely more common now than 10-20 years ago. Very obvious.

When you see queues out the door of the mens' you know it is on.

the ladies is where it is at. Love doing banger in the ladies with some nasty girls, oh yeah baby.

John_Rambo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120607677#Comment_120607677

Well, they're all of a sudden interested and vocal when things don't go exactly the way they want them to go. This should encourage them to take an interest in what way the country is going and get off the couch/keyboard and get involved or at least vote.

But it never does. They just snipe and moan. Ineffective really.

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120614463#Comment_120614463

I remember queuing in a club called Subterranea on Parnell St just to go for a piss in I think '98 and everyone was queuing up to do some kind of drugs. I don't think it has changed that much in Dublin anyway, there was definitely lots of coke going around in the late 90s, it may just be more available outside the big urban areas in Ireland.

Sheep breeder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120602246#Comment_120602246

Little bit off the mark with open a guard stations with presence is way off the mark nowadays, nobody gives a F ck about the garda nowadays. Back when the local station was open the Garda couldn’t drive and had to driven everywhere and the station was closed between 12.30 and 3 o’clock for lunch and you wanted to see him leave a message in the pub and he might comeback to you in a couple of days. All he was doing was seeing out his time after leaving Dublin, in the village now is a big drug dealer for a couple of counties and his right hand man is up in court as regular as clock work and no jail time. The only time the Garda is seen now is the start of the month for tax and insurance or at the speed sign for a few handy summons or out side the chipper.