Social reintegration as a response to drug use in Ireland

Social exclusion, in the form of homelessness and insecure accommodation, inadequate education and poor employment skills, is closely associated with problematic drug use. As a response, social reintegration has emerged as a key aspect of drug treatment and rehabilitation in order to provide responses to accommodation, education, vocational training and employment support needs of problem drug users. Over a period of three years, the author monitored and reported on the availability and accessibility of accommodation, education and employment support among drug users in Ireland and examined social reintegration responses in other countries.

The findings presented in this Overview are based on in-depth interviews with service providers, data from the National Drug Treatment Reporting System and an extensive literature search.