Teens budgeting for cocaine alongside gowns and suits for Debs celebrations
Latest reports suggest that teens are choosing cocaine over alcohol as their drug of choice during their Debs night out.
Journalist with the Irish Farmers Journal Jacqueline Hogge decided to investigate this growing trend and spoke to Andrea Gillian on Lunchtime Live on Newstalk. Pic: Getty Images
Jacqueline spoke to a bus driver who has ferried hundreds of teenagers to their Debs parties over the years, and he claims cocaine use among leaving cert age teenagers is getting more and more common.
'He's been bringing young people to events for the last three or four years and he says the first time he was cleaning the bus after an event, he found 10 to 12 wraps, didn't know what they were and had to be told it was from the cocaine.'
Jacqueline Hogge continued that while cocaine use is not a problem at every school or with every child, she suspects that 'normally three or four that are causing the trouble'. Pic: Getty Images
'Where there is money, there is cocaine', she added.
'With young girls in particular, they see it as a body image thing – it's less calorific than alcohol'. Pic: Getty Images
A leading addiction therapist claimed back in 2020 that the teenagers going to their Debs, or Graduation Balls, are now factoring in how much money they will need to keep themselves in cocaine for the night.
Michael Guerin, from the addiction charity Cuan Mhuire says he was told this by a number of concerned parents and older siblings who are already in rehab a number of years ago.
'We have clients who started using cocaine aged 13. They're in their early 20s now, and telling us that they took cocaine that young and it had a huge psychological effect'.
Michael Guerin says cocaine is now as much a part of the Debs ritual as all the other trappings, like the expensive dresses and suits, hair-styles, nails, and makeup, and he says it's becoming a very very, concerning trend. Pic: Getty images
A report from the Health Research Board revealed a 50% surge in the number of people seeking treatment for cocaine addiction, making this the largest annual increase in what has been a growing issue over the past seven years.
Michael Guerin adds 'That report only supports what professionals have been saying for the last two years — that cocaine is taking on a life of its own,'.
Cocaine plays havoc with your mood. And when it's in the mix with adolescence, which is already a trying time, it can be disastrous. They become obsessed with cocaine to the cost of everything else, including their education.'
However, despite being linked with violence, the drug is now widely perceived to be 'relatively harmless and fashionable', said Mr Guerin.
'It seems to be relatively easy to access and there's a status with it,' he said.
'Cocaine is now part of the mix with cannabis and alcohol abuse'.
But this new worrying trend of 17 and 18 year old's budgeting for cocaine as part of their final night out with friends from schoo is a disastrous addition to an already worrying time for parents.
With leaving cert results due out in August and the Debs season already underway, parents of graduating teens will need to have nerves of steel to handle this newest development during the whole 'leaving cert' party season ahead.
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