'Ireland should have wide range of options on drug possession'
EUDA expert Brendan Hughes cited Portugal's drugs dissuasion commissions which focus on treatment rather than punishment — but which have punitive options at their disposal too. Picture: iStock
It’s better for countries to have a “wide range of options” in responding to drug possession than just a single approach, an EU drug agency expert has said.
Speaking at the Oireachtas Committee on Drugs Use, Brendan Hughes said that a one-size-fits-all approach for people caught in possession of drugs for personal use doesn’t work.
A principal scientist for drug legislation at the EU Drugs Agency (EUDA), Mr Hughes said the “ethos” of a desired system would be to “retain” people in the health and treatment system rather than have the threat of punishment hanging over them.
He said this ethos needs to be combined with sufficient capacity in the system and enough resources.
Following a protracted delay, gardaí and the HSE are about to start a limited diversion scheme — from the criminal justice to the health system — for people caught with drugs for personal use.
The Oireachtas drugs committee is also examining more sweeping reforms recommended by the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use, which reported in January 2024.
Mr Hughes told the committee: “I have been an analyst of national drug legislation around the EU and broader now for 25 years. I do not have all the answers.”
But he said there was a “broad trend” to reduce the size of maximum punishments and/or to “increase options”, including access to treatment and counselling.
He said, in Croatia, the offender now receives a fine to avoid receiving a criminal record, while in Austria the courts can send the offender directly to the health service. He said, in Norway, police are now authorised to refer individuals to a municipal advisory unit, outside criminal proceedings.
He said there were exceptions: France reduced the size of the likely punishment but increased the speed and certainty of it by introducing spot fines rather than a court trial; Spain doubled the size of the fine to €600 for a first offence, and in Denmark, they toughened the response from a warning to a fine.
Mr Hughes said: “You need a wide range of options... a wide variety of choices rather than one.”
He cited Portugal, where ‘dissuasion commissions’ — official bodies that take referrals of people caught with drugs by police — have a philosophy of “retaining” people in the health system rather than waiting for someone to fail and punish them.
He said that if someone does not comply with directions, a dissuasion commission — comprising a social worker, psychologist, and a lawyer — tries something else.
He said commissions still have “punitive options” such as a warning or a financial or non-financial penalty, such as banning someone from an area where drugs are sold.
University of Porto professor of psychology Marta Pinto said that, although Portuguese law “allows for punishment”, dissuasion commissions persist in finding a tailored health intervention for each person.
She said some people might fail several times before they succeed and that the commissions “do not give up”.
Ms Pinto said that, in recent years, police have complained about changes to the law which they say make it more difficult for them to tackle drug dealing.
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