POVERTY is the biggest predictor of addiction. That was the message from the Community Restorative Justice Ireland (CRJI) conference on harm reduction and drug use, at the Balmoral Hotel.
The conversation featured a range of expert guest speakers who explored topics such as addiction, trauma, harm reduction and the decriminalisation of drugs.
Amongst the experts was Dr Sharon Lambert, lecturer in Applied Psychology at University College Cork, who spoke of the relationship between class and addiction.
She made an appeal around harm reduction based on science which "tells us that addiction is a mental health issue".
"Not only is harm reduction basic sense in terms of humanity and compassion, there's also significant science to support it," she said.
Dr Lambert spoke to nuances between reasons for drug use and their link to addiction, and spoke to a need for a health-led approach to addiction.
"Because it's a health problem, it's not a problem that can be sorted out by the criminal justice system," she said.
"When people use drugs recreationally it doesn't have the same harm that addiction has. Lots of young people get involved in experimenting in all sorts of things, including drugs.
"What's interesting to me as a psychologist is, why do so many people who use drugs recreationally and there's only some of them who will end up with an addiction?
"We know that the biggest predictor for the people who will end up with an addiction is poverty.
"Poverty is a very complicated conversation because some people believe that people who live in poverty are there because of choice."
She continued: "More alcohol and cocaine is consumed by middle class people than it is by people in poverty, but they end up with less problems as a result of their drug and alcohol use because they're not using it for the same reason.
"If I'm poor and it's really stressful being poor, and I'm using drugs and alcohol to help me feel better then I'm using it for a different reason (than) If I'm using it to go out on a Friday and Saturday night and have a bit of fun.
"It's about your relationship with the substance – what does it do for you? If you're really stressed or you have other difficulties or challenges in your life then your relationship with drugs and alcohol is different, it does something different. It helps to medicate the misery of poverty."
