The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction – EMCDDA – publishes an annual report on the state of the drugs problem in the European Union. A major task of the centre is to provide information that is objective, reliable and comparable. The Health Research Board is the focal point for Ireland and it provides an annual report on Irish data to the EMCDDA for inclusion in the European report.
The 1999 EMCDDA report presented a figure on page 39 showing trends in the rate of change of drug related deaths in the period 1991/7, taking the 1991 figure as the baseline. The number of drug related deaths in Ireland in 1997 was 52, compared to seven in 1991. As the 1991 figure was so small, the 1997 figure indicates a significant upward trend. However, in countries where the baseline numbers are higher the upward trend over the period is not as marked. The point is made on the report that the markedly increasing trend in recent years in Ireland may be partly related to under-reporting in previous years. Figures for each year are outlined as follows: