Untold Stories Project
Almost one quarter of the adult population in Ireland, about 900,000 people, have used an illegal drug at some point in their lifetime. A significant majority do not go on to develop an addiction problem, indicating that recreational drug use is quite common. According to the HRB “there is little difference in the levels of drug use between areas that are most and least deprived.” However, “communities with high levels of deprivation are disproportionately impacted by the negative effects of drug use activities in their local area.” HRB Irish National Drug & Alcohol Survey 2019-2020
The Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs, which began in April 2023 and runs until October 2023, is considering how Ireland should respond to the issue of drugs, at a time when there is general agreement that our existing approach is not working.
As a society, we are adding to the burden of our policy failures on key social and economic issues with an approach to drugs that increases blame, shame, stigma and criminalisation.
To help us to understand why it is not working and what kind of change is needed, we would like you to hear the stories of people who are living with the impact of our current approach, people who use drugs, their family members and community activists, who are working together to bring about change.
We invite you to listen to our stories and to join the national conversation about why we need change:
Untold Stories Podcast includes five episodes, where five activists from across different communities tell their own stories of how our current approach to drugs has impacted on them and how it has led them to working to bring about change. Our community activists include people who use drugs, their family members and members of the wider community, working together in solidarity to bring about change.
Podcast is available FROM:
As the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs considers how Ireland should respond to the drugs issue, Time to Assemble invites us to take the opportunity to be part of the conversation around change.
Our individual stories are shaped by what is happening in our communities, so we’d like to introduce you to our Community Story... ... Comunity Story
An Ethical Framework for Storytelling.... Ethics for Storytelling
It’s time to bring an end to the shame, blame, stigma and criminalisation that results from our current approach to drugs.