For many, Europe’s largest private party, Trinity Ball is synonymous with recreational drug use. After the arrest of 26 students on drug related charges at the Ball last month, STAND News interviewed 12 students from Trinity and other universities about their relationship with drugs, views on legislation, and the global drug trade.

“Drugs seem necessary” to enjoy the ball deemed one student, who “won’t attend now that I no longer take drugs.” “Drugs certainly improve [the night]” believed another, but “it’s really just a secondary thing.” This perception was echoed by most students, who were aware of drug usage at the ball but never felt that it was an “integral aspect of the night.”

Ranging from cannabis and nitrous oxide (poppers) to harder drugs such as MDMA, crack cocaine, speed, meth and many more, every student interviewed had taken some form of illegal drug in the past with a varying frequency and dependency. All had consumed marijuana at least once in their life, with the research showing that if another drug had previously been taken it was more likely that the student would continue to explore other forms of drugs.

Recreational drug use, believed one student “is part of the college experience in 2019 and is unavoidable.” Many others, however believed that they had avoided or indeed entered drug culture because of their social circles. Could drug use in university be largely dependant on peer groups rather than a generalised university experience? Students seemed to believe so, with some naming specific undergrads like medicine and arts courses as prime pathways for illegal drug use.

The research would support this outlook, as many students said they were “aware that drug use is synonymous with ‘going out’ for many people in college” but this was not their own experience of college. Others however, deemed drugs a “key feature” of their time at college, believed this was “largely due to my peer group.”

Questioned about their positions on the legalisation of drugs, only one interviewee believed that the total prohibition of drugs in Ireland should be maintained. Of the vast majority who wished for the worldwide legislation of drugs, one reason that stood out was the desire to end the violent drug trade that “disproportionately impacts lower-income communities”. Although three quarters of those interviewed believe they have little or very vague knowledge of the reality of the drug industry, many raised knowledge of the social consequences of drug use in regions such as Latin America.

Another student observed that the drug trade, naming the United States in particular is an example of “neo-imperialism” at its most threatening: “By criminalising drugs, prosperous countries fuel this imperialist industry, and costs lives in “non-western” countries,” she argued.

Overwhelmingly, students cited internal issues of stigmatization and lack of regulation which leads to unsafe use as well addiction problems as reasons to decriminalise drugs. Legislation, argued one student, would “force a reconsideration of addiction in popular mentalities away from [addiction] being a moral failing.”

Many students were appalled at 26 arrests at the ball this year and the lack of support they were given from the Student’s Union who publicly cry for the decriminalisation of drugs. For one student, the arrests demonstrated the “archaic and regressive” nature of Ireland’s current drug laws, which priorities criminalisation over rehabilitation.

 

 

 

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Image courtesy of Thought Catalog via Unsplash

 

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