People on 'drugs frontline' share their own stories

'To help us to understand why our drugs policy is not working and what kind of change is needed, we need to hear the stories of people who are living with the impact of our current approach.'

People on the frontline of the drugs crisis are telling their personal stories in an effort to inform the debate on Ireland’s drug policy being held at the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use.

The CityWide Drugs Crisis Campaign, an umbrella group of drug projects from across the country, has taken the step to ensure the voices of those most affected are heard by the assembly and society at large.

In a series of podcasts, people who use drugs, their family members and community activists tell their stories.

The development comes as the assembly finished its fourth session last weekend, with just two remaining meetings to go, before they turn to drafting their report and bring their recommendations to the Oireachtas.

“Personal stories and shared experiences have a transformative power to reshape our world and be catalysts for change,” said CityWide coordinator Anna Quigley.

She said each of the people speaking in the podcasts had full control over their own story, from beginning to the final edits.

Ms Quigley said the assembly’s work reflected a “general agreement” the existing approach to drugs was not working.

“To help us to understand why our drugs policy is not working and what kind of change is needed, we need to hear the stories of people who are living with the impact of our current approach, people who use drugs, their family members and community activists, who are working together to bring about change,” she said.

She said almost one quarter of the adult population in Ireland, about 900,000 people, have used an illegal drug at some point in their lifetime. 

"A significant majority do not go on to develop an addiction problem, indicating that recreational drug use is quite common.” Ms Quigley said.

She said drug use and the drugs trade “disproportionately” affects marginalised communities.

“This disproportionate negative impact is not due to individual character failure in working-class communities, but is the result of the State’s failure to respond to long term poverty, the community trauma that results and an approach to drugs policy that has made things worse — an approach based on blame, shame, stigma and criminalisation,” she said.