GRA welcome move on ‘curse of drugs’
He was commenting on Minister Aodhán Ó Riordáin’s plans to introduce new laws decriminalising drugs.
The minister of state, who has responsibility for drugs’ strategy, wants to change the law so people caught with drugs for personal use only will not face prosecution.
The idea was recommended by the Oireachtas Justice Committee and is based on a model already in use in Portugal.
Portugal has considered drug use a public-health issue rather than a criminal one since it decriminalised the use of all drugs for personal use in 2001.
Mr Ó Riordáin said the drugs would still remain illegal but the person with the drug habit or addiction would be better served being dealt with by the health system rather than the criminal justice system.
He pointed out that the change in the law would also free up garda resources.
Mr Stone was asked on RTÉ radio yesterday if he had a position on plans to decriminalise the possession of drugs for personal use
“No. But I think anything that can deal with the curse of drugs and some innovating thinking on this is to be welcomed,” he said.
There were young people desperately trying to feed their drug habit and if a health regime could give them a better chance of beating their addiction, he was all for it.
Mr Stone said the focus should be on the “big guys”, the people making huge money from drug dealing and not those ravaged by drug abuse.
Asked if he thought the current regime was simply not working, he said it took brave people to point to a different way of dealing with Ireland’s drug problem.
