NCJ Number
202143
Date Published
2002
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This article examines policy and service responses to substance abuse problems in Ireland, with a focus on the role of professional social work in the management of addiction.
Abstract
Alcohol and drug problems in Ireland are reviewed, followed by an analysis of substance abuse treatment policies in Ireland. Health-care policy makers in Ireland have become disillusioned with the disease model of substance abuse, adopted from the United States, and have argued that it should be replaced by a range of public health strategies, which is the prevailing model in Europe. However, despite this viewpoint, there has been little or no implementation of public health strategies to the treatment of substance abuse. Complicating matters is the fact that there is a high prevalence of alcohol and drug problems in the caseloads of social workers in Ireland. This is problematic because the profession of social work is relatively new in this country and there are few social workers employed in specialist addiction posts. Moreover, the profession has not lobbied for a greater role in specialist services. As such, despite the prevalence of substance abuse clients in social workers caseloads, there is little debate about how addiction issues should be addressed in social work education. The author maintains that it is difficult to predict how such a dilemma will evolve in the coming years but that professionalism and experience would seem to dictate that education in addiction for social workers will grow as the profession matures. The adoption of explicitly Irish models of addiction should also come forth to reflect the unique character of the culture. References