Half of all respondents used
soft drugs
Almost half of Irish thirty somethings have tried marijuana and other soft drugs, a new survey has revealed, although numbers were far lower for harder illicit substances such as heroin and cocaine.

The 'Ireland's Thirty Somethings - Living on the Edge' poll also surveyed approval ratings for a number of traditionally frowned-upon behaviors such as drunk driving and pre-marital sex, as well as current issues such as same sex marriage and gay rights to adoption.

In a sign of changed times, drunk driving was found to provoke the strongest moral disapproval rating, with an average disapproval rating of 9.1 (out of a maximum ten), while pre-marital sex was the least offensive to those surveyed.

While almost half of all respondents said that they had 'dabbled' in soft drugs, such as marijuana, only 14% had experimented with harder substances, such as heroin and cocaine.

There was little support for the decriminalization of all drugs, a proposition which just 18% of those polled said they would support.

Strong support was also evident for gay marriage with three quarters of respondents responding affirmatively when asked if the institution of marriage should be extended to same sex couples. However, only 66% of respondents were supportive of affording such couples the right to adopt children.

More than 40% of respondents believed that there were currently too many immigrants coming into the country.

On religion, only 55% of those surveyed said that there were members of the Catholic Church and two thirds of those asked would have their children baptized. However, almost one third of respondents - 28% - said that they had never attended a religious ceremony in their lives.

Despite soaring rents, 84% of those polled said that they expected to own their own house or apartment if they didn't already do so.

The poll was carried out by market research firm Behavious and Attitudes on behalf of the national radio station Today FM and the Sunday and Irish Independents and surveyed approximately 1,000 randomly sampled individuals between the ages of 30 and 39, according to a report in the Kildare Nationalist.

Further installments of results from the survey will be published during the week.