Minister: Treat addicts as patients, not criminals
His appointment has been warmly welcomed by Citywide, an umbrella body of community drug projects, and Ana Liffey, a voluntary treatment agency.
The minister of state is currently at the Department of Justice with responsibility for equality, new communities, and culture and is a former principal of St Laurence O’Toole’s GNS in Dublin’s north inner city.
Speaking on RTÉ radio yesterday, the Labour deputy said he previously raised the issue of decriminalisation of drugs for personal use and added: “I have an interest in that area and have discussed it with Citywide before. I think we need to deal with people who have an addiction through the health system and not through the criminal justice system —that’s my instinct.
“We need to think differently about the way we’ve approached this issue in the past and certainly I would feel that a health issue, somebody suffering from an addiction, has to be treated as a patient first and foremost.”
Joan Byrne of Citywide said: “Minister Ó Ríordáin has in the past shown his support for communities struggling to deal with the drug-related problems and we believe that he will provide the leadership badly needed to drive the response to the drugs crisis.
“He has a big job to contend with — 633 drug-related deaths in 2012, a drugs trade in Ireland estimated to be worth €600 million and a 37% cut in budgets to services on the ground.”
Tony Duffin of Ana Liffey said: “Minister Ó Ríordáin will know of the impact that drug use has on families and individuals; he will have spoken to businesses who are frustrated with issues like public injecting cause.”
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