Understanding Problem Drug Use

• Every drug user is somebody's son or daughter, brother or sister, father or mother.
   
  
• Drug problems are strongly associated with chaotic home environments, chronic unresolved family conflict in the home, and particularly homes in which parents are stressed and isolated, abuse substances, and/or suffer from mental illnesses [1].
   
  
• Children are less likely to develop drugs problems where there are strong and positive family bonds, parental monitoring of children's activities and peers, clear rules of conduct that are consistently enforced within the family and involvement of parents in the lives of their children1[1].
   
  
• Parents (particularly mothers) who are drug users are often afraid to seek help because they fear their children may be taken from them [2].
   
  
• Parents who are receiving treatment for their drug problem are less likely to experience parenting difficulties and many are coping competently with child rearing [3].
   
  
• The extent of the negative impact of problem drug use not only on the individual drug user but also on the whole family including the wider kin is increasingly acknowledged. The total number of individuals actually affected in Ireland is unknown but with an estimated 14,542 opiate users alone we can be sure that this figure is considerable.
   
  
• Effects of drug use on other family members include depression, adjustment and behavioural disorder, deterioration in family relationships, increased likelihood of domestic violence, criminal behaviour, isolation, withdrawal, stigma and concealment [4]. It also impacts on ".family functioning as well as on the social lives and on the physical and mental health of those family members who struggle to come to terms with and adapt to the effects of the drug problem on all their lives [5].
   
  
• Heroin use is concentrated in a number of disadvantaged urban communities. The profound negative effects of concentrations of drugs problems include:
• Discarded needles and syringes in estates
• Visible drug use and drug dealing within the community
• Children coming into contact with drug use at an early age
• Crime and violence associated with the illegal drugs trade [6].
 
• Many people living in communities with high levels of drug use feel stigmatised and resent outside representations of their communities that focus on drugs problems [7].
   
  
• Problem heroin use has serious impact on society. It is associated with:
• Increased levels of crime and imprisonment
• It is symptomatic of increased inequality and poverty.
• The presence of high levels of visible drug use and drug dealing on our streets negatively influences the quality of live of city dwellers.