DOES ULSTER STILL SAY NO - DRUGS, POLITICS, AND PROPAGANDA IN NORTHERN-IRELAND

Considerable emphasis has been placed in Northern Ireland as elsewhere upon providing an estimate of the prevalence and patten of drug misus e, yet despite the importance of this information, a less than adequat e picture has emerged. In this paper, divided into three sections, we attempt to layout and explore the assemblage of factors influencing dr ug misuse in Northern Ireland and subsequently our knowledge of it. In the first section we endeavor to demonstrate that drug use, distribut ion, and policy cannot be examined in isolation from the politics and practices of the protagonists to the conflict in Northern Ireland In t he second we critically review existing data on drug misuse ranging fr om the various public health and law enforcement indicators through to the limited emprical research avaliable. The final section makes urge nt calls for quality research in Northern Ireland that would be instru mental in influencing effective drug policy and practice.