Drugs on campus: ‘Coke and weed are the most common drugs. You might notice coke every second night you’re out’

This article is part of a series curated by students and recent graduates from colleges and universities in Ireland
In my secondary school there was some weed use but it was mainly a drink culture. When I came to Galway for college, I became more acquainted with illegal drugs. A good number of people were smoking weed. I remember being invited to a birthday party early on where everyone was doing coke. That was a real eye-opening thing for me. I felt like I was in Narcos.
Coke and weed are the most common drugs. If you’re keeping an eye out, you might notice coke every second night that you’re out. A friend might say the odd time, “Oh, I got a bit of coke if you want to do some.” It’s not as common as weed.
It’s very easy to get weed. It’s very common to just be given a Snapchat contact who can be messaged and will drop it to your house. A smarter, older drug dealer who doesn’t want to be caught will use Signal because the encryption is better. A young stupid college student drug dealer will use Snapchat.
I’ve rarely heard people mention the ethics of using drugs that come from violent drugs trade. There’s no stigma about weed now. People use it relatively openly. I’ve a lot of friends would sit in the smoking area of a pub and they’ll just be smoking a joint like they’re smoking a rollie. It’s treated like tobacco. A lot of people we would know would smoke it every day. They’ll smoke and drive.
People are drinking less partly because it’s too expensive. Weed is cheaper. Rent everywhere is going up every day and the price of everything is going up. It’s so unaffordable to have a life outside of paying your rent and going to work or going to college. So I feel like people are trying to do their best to find ways to have fun. Some people are buying shroom kits from Amsterdam and growing shrooms.
A lot of that is harmless but there is a strong element of self-medication in some people’s use. We’re going through a mental health crisis and we don’t have the resources to support people, so they’re trying to support themselves. I know so many people who have been diagnosed with depression or anxiety disorders, so they smoke because they’re so stressed out.
I definitely notice a correlation between smoking weed and family issues or stress about paying rent. I also see it around exam season. Some people will be in the library studying, then pop out for a smoke and that turns into a joint and then they go back in to study. But if you’re high, you’re not really getting the information properly. A lot of people say, it’s a great anti-anxiety thing and do it a lot because of that. I know lots of people who can’t sleep at night unless they smoke a weed vape before they go to bed.
For some people it’s seen as a purer drug, almost like being a vegetarian. As a science student I’m aware that there are papers showing weed can sometimes be beneficial for people with mental health disorders. There are health benefits to weed but they are oversold. I see a lot of people spouting medical terms they’ve just read on a TikTok headline. They’re convinced that it’s this medical wonder. They’re not aware that those papers go in depth discussing dosages and aren’t recommending just smoking a joint whenever you want. They don’t realise that the fact that they’ve been struggling with anxiety might be connected to the fact they’ve also been smoking weed every night.
For some people it’s so normalised you have to make an excuse if you don’t want to smoke. I don’t do any drugs regularly. I drink about once a month. So I say: “I’ve work tomorrow” or “I’m driving”. That doesn’t mean that we should be taking out the pitchforks. Most people aren’t doing it too much. But I have found myself feeling worried about some people. You don’t want to make them feel like you’re having an intervention. You try to hint at it. You want to find ways to say to some people: “Hey, you’re smoking a load of weed lately. Do you think you want to slow down?”
The author’s identity is known to The Irish Times Magazine Editor