Criminalisation of personal possession of drugs 'simply not working', committee told
The committee heard that European countries that are trying regulation, like Germany, Luxembourg and Malta, are putting the emphasis on small cannabis clubs, rather than the free market. File picture: Getty
The criminalisation of the personal possession of drugs was introduced with “good intentions” but the data shows the policy “is simply not working”, the Oireachtas Drugs Committee has heard.
The special committee has been set up to consider the report of the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs, which recommended the decriminalisation of the possession of all drugs for personal use and the diversion of people to health services.
Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch, program director of Drugs Policy Open Society Foundations, told the committee that countries criminalised drug use in the hope it would “deter people from using drugs” — but said it had failed.
“Look at the data, more people are using today than ever before,” she said. “It is simply not working and it is also producing incredible violence and corruption.
“It had good intentions, but we have learned it's not working. Now decades later we continue to do the same thing. It’s time for change, it’s time for countries to be brave.”
Ms Malinowska-Sempruch was one of a panel of experts from four different research groups — all of which are in favour of decriminalisation and, in most cases, regulation — that addressed the committee.
Ricardo Baptista, a medical doctor and President of UNITE Parliamentarians Network for Global Health, said his home country, Portugal, took the “bold” step in 2000 to decriminalise drug possession.
“We did not make use of drugs legal, we merely stopped it being considered a crime,” he said.
“Many thought Portugal would be a drug haven, but there is no drug tourism and consumption stayed below the EU average,” Dr Baptista said.
He said decriminalisation was part of a wider strategy of treatment, prevention, social reintegration, dissuasion of drug addiction, harm reduction and law enforcement.
Marta Pinto, Professor in Psychology of Justice at the University of Porto, said drug possession in Portugal “may be sanctioned with administrative measures”, such as fees and community service.
She said 2020 research she was involved in indicated that decriminalisation “did not seem to result in a significant increase in drug use prevalence” or in increasing drug markets.
Marie Nougier, head of research at the International Drug Policy Consortium, said there were 66 jurisdictions in 40 countries that had adapted some form of decriminalisation. She said decriminalisation should entail “the removal of all sanctions” and be combined with increased funding for care systems.
Ms Nougier said decriminalisation was “critical” but left supply in the hands of criminals, a situation that only regulation would change. She said European countries that are trying regulation, like Germany, Luxembourg and Malta, are putting the emphasis on small cannabis clubs, rather than the free market.
Ms Malinowska-Sempruch said regulation “needs to be really thought through” and added that “handing it over to the cannabis business is not the smartest”.
Committee chair Lynn Ruane said that rather than drug-dealing it was the “violence and intimidation that wreaks most havoc in communities”, where “poor young men are killing each other”.
She asked was there a way of creating an “ethical” model of drug-dealing where society focused on tackling violence first.
Ms Malinowska-Sempruch said a government needs to identify “what is your primary goal and your secondary goal”. She said that if combating violence was the primary goal and drug supply the secondary goal, then law enforcement could be directed accordingly.
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