Drugs in rural Ireland: 'It's like getting a bag of sweets'
Westmeath GAA star and recovering cocaine addict Luke Loughlin says that drugs are so readily available now in rural Ireland that "it's literally like getting a bag of sweets".
Speaking last night on the RTÉ current affairs show Upfront with Katie Hannon during an audience discussion on the merits of decriminalising drugs, Luke said that he probably wouldn't have got the treatment he needed to beat his alcohol and cocaine addictions if he wasn't an inter-county player. He also thanked the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) for their support.
“They helped me with everything. Still to this day if there is anything I need they are amazing.”
With his mother Oonagh by his side, The Downs and Clonkill clubman spoke candidly about his descent into drug addiction.
“It progressed over time. It started off with alcohol, I obviously had mental health problems that I was never able to address. It progressed over time and I needed something stronger.
“Why I was doing it was because I probably wasn't able to deal with what was going on in my life and I needed to get high or drunk to face the problems that I had.
“The older that I got the more I could drink, the more I could sniff. The more money, I had the more access I had...I just kept going down a slippery slope and that's how I got to where I ended up.”
Luke said that he finally decided he had to get help after a video of him asleep next to a train track was circulated on social media.
“I was obviously asleep, but God knows what was going through my head. I was after being on a coke binge for like two months, but this had been four days without sleep. God knows what was going on. People were obviously looking for me. That was where I had got to. That was my norm.”
Now sober and clean for over two years, Luke paid tribute to his family and friends for their support.
“Only for the support of my family and the community around me where I am from, God knows what could have happened.”
When asked about cocaine consumption in the GAA, Luke appeared to question the wisdom of imposing drink bans on players.
“...When you maybe win or lose something, it could be a few months since you had a drink, and it's a blow up, you party as hard as you can...”
Luke mother's Oonagh also spoke on the show about how difficult it was watching her son struggle.
“The only time I had any comfort was when he was in the depths of depression and would come home and he would be in bed for a week.
“Then you could say right he's home for the night or for the next couple of nights until he rallied himself up to go again. It's the hardest thing as a parent to watch. There's blame, there's guilt, there's anger, there's every emotion you can imagine.”
Oonagh said that she had been unaware of how easy it was to access drugs in rural Ireland, while Luke says that their availability has increased significantly in recent years.
“You can go to any pub now and get it so easy. It's literally like getting a bag of sweets, it's crazy, to be honest...Literally every second person's cousin is a drug dealer now or has contacts to a coke dealer or something. It is very easy got.”
Both Luke and Oonagh said that before the audience discussion they would have been against decriminalising drugs, but when they heard the arguments put forward they were beginning to see the benefits.
“I am of the opinion whatever can help people get healthiest and well, that's the end goal. I don't really have many political views, but health and well being is number one. Your health is your wealth,” Luke said.