Drug use in Ireland and Northern Ireland – Results from the 2002/03 Drug Prevalence Survey

This survey was commissioned by the National Advisory Committee on Drugs in Ireland (NACD) and the Drug and Alcohol Information and Research Unit (DIARU) within the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in Northern Ireland.

In addition to obtaining prevalence rates for key illegal drugs, this survey, carried out by MORI MRC between October 2002 and April 2003, also obtained information on the prevalence of alcohol use by persons between the ages of 15 and 64, resident in households in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Prevalence is measured by asking respondents to recall their drug use over a period of time. This survey uses the following terms to describe reported prevalence:

Lifetime prevalence – ever having used a drug.
Last year prevalence – have used a particular drug within the year prior to the survey.
Last month prevalence – have used a drug in the 30 day period prior to the survey (often referred to as current use).

The following table taken from Bulletin 2 compares survey results for the prevalence of alcohol use within Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.³

Prevalence (%) of alcohol use in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland

	Northern Ireland					Republic of Ireland
	All adults 15-64	Males	Females	Young Adults 15-34 years	Older Adults 35-64	All adults 15-64	Males	Females	Young Adults 15-34 years	Older Adults 35-64
Total sample (unweighted)	(3516)	(1575)	(1941)	(1397)	(2119)	(4918)	(2147)	(2771)	(1995)	(2923)
Lifetime prevalence	88.2	90.3	86.0	89.1	87.4	90.2	92.5	87.8	92.1	88.5
Last year prevalence	79.3	82.2	76.5	83.4	76.1	83.8	86.0	81.6	86.5	81.4
Last month prevalence	67.6	72.7	62.5	70.1	65.5	74.0	78.4	69.6	74.6	73.4

Note: Unweighted sample sizes for each group are given at the head of each column. All prevalence rates are based on weighted data. All figures are rounded to the nearest decimal place.

The survey methodology and results are summarised in the following bulletins, available to download as follows:
Drug use in Ireland and Northern Ireland – 2002/2003 Drug Prevalence Survey: Cocaine results¹
http://www.dhsspsni.gov.uk/cocaine_bulletin_4.pdf
Drug use in Ireland and Northern Ireland – 2002/2003 Drug Prevalence Survey: Cannabis results²
http://www.dhsspsni.gov.uk/drug_use_bulletin3.pdf
Drug use in Ireland and Northern Ireland – First Results from the 2002/03 Drug Prevalence Survey: Health Board (Ireland) and Health and Social Services Board (Northern Ireland) Results – Bulletin 2³
http://www.dhsspsni.gov.uk/drug_use_bulletin2.pdf
Drug use in Ireland and Northern Ireland – First Results (revised) from the 2002/03 Drug Prevalence Survey – Bulletin 1⁴
http://www.dhsspsni.gov.uk/drug_use_bulletin1.pdf
Drug use in Ireland and Northern Ireland – First results from the 2002/03 Drug Prevalence Survey – A summary of the methodology⁵
http://www.dhsspsni.gov.uk/drug_use_methodology.pdf

References

(NACD) and (DAIRU). Drug use in Ireland and Northern Ireland – 2002/2003 Drug Prevalence Survey: Cocaine results. (NACD) and (DAIRU), January 2006.
NACD and DAIRU. Drug use in Ireland and Northern Ireland – 2002/2003 Drug Prevalence Survey: Cannabis results. NACD and DAIRU, October 2005.
NACD and DAIRU. Drug use in Ireland and Northern Ireland – 2002/2003 Drug Prevalence Survey: Health Board (IReland and Health and Social Services Board (Northern Ireland) results – Bulletin 2. NACD and DAIRU, revised June 2005.
NACD and DAIRU. Drug use in Ireland and Northern Ireland – First Results from the 2002/2003 Drug Prevalence Survey – Bulletin 1. NACD and DAIRU, revised June 2005.
NACD and DAIRU. Drug use in Ireland and Northern Ireland – A summary of the methodology. NACD and DAIRU, October 2003.

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