Rural Addiction: drugs are rife, hope is thin on the ground

Rural Addiction (RTÉ Two, Tuesday) offers an exceptional view into the growing problem of alcohol and drug addiction – and the problems that go with it, such as homelessness and mental health issues, outside Ireland's capital.

This two-part documentary was filmed over the course of a few months and it is driven by the personal stories of former and recovering addicts. In their own words, we learn about their first introduction to drugs, their relapses and overdoses and the various ways in which they are trying to remain clean.

The frank way that drug use is discussed effectively demonstrates that addiction cannot be cured overnight. In Nenagh, Co Tipperary, we meet couple Brian and Ali, both recovering heroin addicts. As Brian is holding out for a bed in the rehabilitative working farm St Francis Farm in Carlow, Ali explains that they’re just looking for a fresh start so they can lose the label of ‘junkie’.

According to recovering heroin user Mick, every dole day in Mullingar, dealers wait outside the post office for clients to come out with money for their orders. “Every drug you can name, you can get in Mullingar,” he says.

As the number of people seeking treatment for addiction increases across the country, we are shown rehabilitative and proactive resolutions to addiction, rather than punitive, like the needle exchange programme run by the Ana Liffey Drug Project in Limerick and the peer overdose prevention programme run by the city’s McGarry House, which teaches first aid and the signs of overdoses.

Rural Addiction is a brutal wake up call to those who might be unaware of the extent of drug addiction in their hometowns, but the show's main achievement is giving voices to those who have been marginalised for so long.

Part two will feature more residents of McGarry House and see the direct effect that their services have on a community as recovering addicts learn new skills and try to rejoin the workforce. We will also meeet Brian, Ali and Joe a few months down the line, to see how far they’ve come since they started seeking treatment.