Call for mandatory drug sentence to be repealed

The majority of those sentenced under mandatory minimum 10-year laws for drug dealing are “drug mules rather than high-level drug barons”, according to the State’s legal advisory body.

The Law Reform Commission said that while the motives behind the laws were “understandable”, they had not acted as a deterrent and had led to “inconsistent and disproportionate sentencing”.

In its Mandatory Sentences report, the commission calls for the presumptive mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years for dealing drugs worth over €13,000 to be repealed.