Cocaine ‘snuff kits’ are being openly sold in Dublin city centre, despite the fact the drug remains illegal.
According to The Sunday Times, an €18 pouch — containing a mirror, razor blade, snorting tube, vial and metal spoon — was displayed in a shop window on Talbot Street. The same item is also available on multiple websites, where sellers promote it as their “most popular kit” without referring to cocaine.
While it is legal to sell such kits, possessing cocaine can carry a penalty of up to 12 months in prison and/or a €2,500 fine.
Normalisation
Austin Prior, an addiction counsellor who was formerly Deputy Clinical Director of The Rutland Centre, called the report “very worrying”.
He explained: “The fact that they can be so openly on display just shows how cocaine has become so socially accepted in Ireland.
“When I started working at the Rutland Centre about 20 years ago the drug most common at the time was heroin. Users would never brag about their supply or admit that they were partying all week on heroin. Now people feel perfectly at ease openly talking about their use of cocaine.”
According to the Health Research Board, there was a 252.6 per cent surge in cocaine users seeking help between 2017 and 2024.
‘Epidemic’
Earlier this year, Taoiseach Micheál Martin warned that Ireland faces a ‘cocaine epidemic’ and highlighted the serious consequences of illegal drug use.
Martin expressed particular concern over the impact of the rise in use on younger people, citing health complications and “behavioural traits” connected with taking cocaine.
In August, Blanchardstown Local Drugs & Alcohol Task Force revealed that drug dealing was reported in “a number” of local primary schools in 2023, but declined to reveal exactly how many “to uphold confidentiality”.
Drug rooms on wheels proposed in Scotland
Cannabis for pain relief linked to higher paranoia risk
Father and former addict warns of addiction’s hidden toll on families