Secular Trends in Substance Use: The Conflict and Young People in Northern Ireland

The resolution of political conflict has led some to suggest that Northern Ireland will now face a range of social problems that have been ignored or suppressed by the Troubles. One such area is adolescent drug use. In this article, a review of a range of data sources shows that drug use, with few exceptions, has increased since the emergence of the ongoing peace process. Social and political changes and enhanced paramilitary involvement in the drugs trade appear to have somehow created an environment where drug use has flourished. In reviewing current drug policy and practice, the article highlights the lack of prevention, treatment, and harm reduction services established in Northern Ireland as a cause for concern.

New dates for first millennium BC tephra isochrones in Ireland

Three distinct, first millennium BC tephras (BMR-190, OMH-185, GB4-150) have been recognized in Irish peat deposits, including a previously undated ash (BMR-190). We present the results of a programme of high-precision 14C wiggle-matching on a peat profile containing all three tephras from Glen West, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. The wiggle-match provides highly refined dates of 705-585cal. BC for BMR-190, 755-680cal. BC for OMH-185 and 800-758cal. BC for GB4-150. The tephras constitute valuable, widespread isochrones for palaeoecological research across the first millennium BC, when a prolonged 14C calibration plateau between 750 and 400 cal. BC presents a major problem to dating and correlating palaeoenvironmental events from multisite, multiproxy studies of the period.

A precisely-dated lake-level rise marked by diatomite formation in northeastern Ireland

The intercorrelation of palaeoclimate events from various studies is often hindered by a lack of precise chronological control. Tephra isochrons can overcome this problem by providing direct site linkages. This paper outlines a study of Holocene peat and diatomite deposits that accumulated within the floodplain of Lough Neagh, Northern Ireland. The Icelandic Hekla 4 tephra has been identified at the base of diatomite deposits at a number of sites and provides firm dating evidence for a widespread flooding event in the area at ca. 2300 BC. The evidence is consistent with other studies in Ireland and elsewhere for increased wetness at this time. The results demonstrate that the terrestrial deposits around Lough Neagh contain an important record of Holocene lake-level change. Dendrochronological evidence from the Lough Neagh area provides additional information about lake-level fluctuations over the past two millennia.