Dublin task force reports primary school drug dealing

Drug dealing is taking place in some of Dublin’s primary schools, a study has revealed.

Blanchardstown Local Drugs & Alcohol Task Force (BLDATF), a community group which has been monitoring drug trends in the D15 postal district since 2014, said that 2023 was the first year drug dealing in local primary schools had been reported.

At the beginning of last year, the Citizens’ Assembly on Drug Use called for the wholesale liberalisation of laws on the possession of dangerous drugs, including cocaine, cannabis, heroin, and opioids.

Eleven-year-olds

The task force said that drug dealing was reported in “a number” of local primary schools, but declined to reveal exactly how many “to uphold confidentiality”.

These schools, it observed, were based in a mixture of affluent and socio-economically deprived areas, “indicating that drug dealing is a community wide issue that crosses all socio-economic boundaries”.

It continued: “The profile of primary school-based drug users includes males and females aged from 11 years, with cannabis herb, cannabis oil and nitrous oxide being used during school.”

In 2023, according to BLDATF, drug dealing took place in all eleven mainstream local secondary schools and drug use among pupils is increasing.

‘Normalisation’

BLDAFT also noted that “the normalisation of drug use has featured prominently” since monitoring began. It added: “The common perception was that alcohol and drugs were widely used, risk free and socially acceptable.”

Cannabis, the group said, was the most normalised illegal drug in Dublin 15. Ten per cent of over 15s in the area (9,399) had used cannabis under the latest data; six per cent of 15 and 16-year-olds (221 children) are considered to be “high-risk” cannabis users.

Treatment demand for drug use among adults increased “by 152% from 244 in 2016 to 616 in 2023”; between 2014 and 2023, the number of under-18s treated for treated for drug use increased by 51 per cent, from 51 to 77 young people.

Drugs epidemic

In July, Taoiseach Micheál Martin warned that Ireland faces a ‘cocaine epidemic’ and highlighted the serious consequences of illegal drug use.

Martin described the impact of the rise in use on younger people as “very worrying”, citing health complications and “behavioural traits” connected with taking cocaine.

Ireland had witnessed “terrible tragedies” as a result of people using illegal drugs, he explained, adding: “Drugs kill people and kill people pretty quickly.”

Prior to the Taoiseach’s comments, Senators clashed in the Seanad over the Government’s ‘health-led’ approach to drugs. Senator Rónán Mullen said the programme was tantamount to decriminalisation.