Measures to tackle nitrous oxide use among young people and children should be included in the forthcoming national drug strategy, stakeholders have recommended.
Nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas or whippets, has become an increasingly popular recreational drug in recent years. It is sold legally for medical, industrial and commercial purposes, including to make whipped cream, meaning it is easily obtained online.
The drug can cause neurological damage as well as frostbite burns among people who use it, with youth workers reporting that children as young as 10 are experimenting with the substance.
On Thursday, the Department of Health published a summary report of stakeholder consultations to develop the successor of the current drug strategy which seeks to reduce and prevent harm caused by drugs, and which ends this year.
RM Block
The stakeholders acknowledged the progress that has been seen since the launch of the current strategy but highlighted a number of gaps that should be addressed in the forthcoming iteration, particularly affecting children and young people.
The report states that services need to be available 24/7 to meet the needs of all users, as well as highlighting a need to tackle nitrous oxide use among children and young people.
According to the report, not all services have youth-specific counselling and there is a shortage of diversion programmes that would keep the courts and prisons clear for more serious crimes.
Another key gap highlighted by stakeholders was the “the inadequate responses to alcohol and its links to other addictions in the current strategy, together with a shortfall in funding for alcohol services”.
“Clearer explanations were also needed in relation to the decisions to include and indeed exclude other addictions including gambling and vaping respectively,” the report states.
“Many of the participants were of the view that a co-ordinated, cross-government response is required to deal with gambling separate to drug and alcohol use. Questions were also raised about where vaping fitted within the current strategy.”
[ Nitrous-oxide: Laughing gas hits a new high in IrelandOpens in new window ]
Participants also highlighted gaps in services in certain areas, financial barriers to accessing some treatment centres and clinics, long waiting lists, and gaps in services for children and young people.
The summary report was based on a series of in-person and online consultations involved 241 people including members of the drug and alcohol taskforces, HSE addiction managers, individuals and families with lived and living experience, civil society representatives and service providers, along with prevention and education stakeholders.
Minister for Public Health Jennifer Murnane O’Connor said the landscape of drug use is “ever changing, and can vary considerably from region to region”.
“The issues highlighted in this report reflect the complexity of the challenge we face in communities all over the country, but they also highlight the opportunities we can create when we collaborate and learn from experience,” she said.
