The 2018 Global Drug Survey has lifted the lid on Ireland's cocaine use.
Taken last year by 35.2% of the Irish people who completed the confidential online questionnaire – down slightly from 2017’s 36.4% - the average gram of coke sells here for €80.40, which is comparable to the global average of €79.50. Only 1.5% report taking crack cocaine, which is in Ireland in significant qualities but seems to be confined to small pockets of users who mainly come from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Not surprisingly, the cheapest cocaine is to be found in Colombia where it’s just €5.40 a gram. Most expensive at a whopping €211.70 is New Zealand.
The average male user took it on 12.7 days and the average female on 13.3 days.
The usual amount of cocaine consumed per day is 0.3g – 19.6%; 0.5g – 25% and one gram – 15.2%, which suggests Ireland’s use is relatively social.
36.4% of Irish cocaine users say they took the drug for the first time in 2017.
Irish people are most likely to lose their cocaine virginity when they’re 19, with a sharp drop off after the age of 24.
“People’s first cocaine experience tended to be less pleasurable than they expected, buy negative effects were also not as bad as expected,” we’re told by the GDS number crunchers.
43.7% of respondents said they’d like to use less cocaine over the next year, with 7.1% willing to seek help to do so.
At 0.9%, cocaine is ninth in the list of drugs that Irish people seek emergency medical treatment for. Top at 3.1% are novel (new) designer drugs with GHB and methamphetamine tucked in behind at 2.7% and 2.5%.