Cocaine Use Among Women in Ireland Has Soared 426% C ocaine use among Irish women is surging. The Health Research Board, an Irish government agency, reported in May 2025 that there’s been a 426% increase in women receiving cocaine treatment since 2017. That’s one of the sharpest rises in drug treatment statistics Ireland has ever seen. And it’s not just numbers on a page. "Irish people are the fourth largest consumers of cocaine worldwide" Behind each statistic is someone’s daughter, sister,...

Why Do Different Judges Give Different Sentences in Ireland? I magine facing a judge for the same crime in two different courtrooms. In one, you get one-year in prison. In the other? Ten years. Now imagine that the same judge makes different decisions depending on whether it is morning or afternoon, or Monday rather than Wednesday, or they haven’t yet had lunch. These are examples of what Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman calls  ‘noise’: variability in judgements that should be identical. In...

Cannabis, Cocaine, Codeine: How Long Before You Can Legally Drive? “I Took It Yesterday — So I’m Grand, Right?” That’s the sentence I hear the most in drug driving cases. The person feels fine. They waited a day. Maybe two. They assume they’re safe to drive. But here’s what they don’t realise: You can still test positive. And if you test positive, the Gardaí can charge you. Even if you haven’t felt high in hours, or even days. Even if it was last night. Even if it was “just a bit”. Because...