Oireachtas committee calls for decriminalisation of drug possession

'Ireland must face its fear about drugs' vice-chair Mary Fitzpatrick told the committee

With cross-party support, the Oireachtas committee on drugs use called for the offence of possession — for all drugs — to be removed from the statute book. Picture: iStock

Ireland needs to take its head “out of the sand” about the drugs crisis and decriminalise the personal possession of drugs, an Oireachtas committee has said.

With cross-party support, the Oireachtas drugs committee called for the offence of possession — for all drugs — to be removed from the statute book.

The committee has gone one step further than the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use, which said possession should still remain illegal in law but that a form of decriminalisation should be adopted in practice.

The report of the committee, which was tasked with examining the January 2024 assembly findings and making its own recommendations, will now go to the Government, which must give a detailed response and hold an Oireachtas debate.

Given that existing government policy — announced in August 2019 — for a limited form of health diversion for drug possession has still not begun, it is unclear what the prospects are of more radical legal reforms being agreed and implemented.

Fine Gael hardened its position against decriminalisation in the 2024 general election, while Fianna Fáil — under criticism from its future coalition partner — hastily adjusted its manifesto, which called for decriminalisation of all drugs, to only apply to cannabis.

But committee members from both Government parties joined opposition politicians at the launch of the report yesterday, with Fianna Fáil senator Mary Fitzpatrick prominent in her calls for legal changes.

Foreign affairs minister and Fine Gael TD Helen McEntee said it was “clear, from a garda perspective, there are serious concerns” about decriminalisation, but said, from a health perspective, “there are reasons why this keeps coming up”.

In the Dáil, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the Government would assess the report and engage with the health and justice departments.

Gardaí oppose removing criminal offence of possession

Gardaí remain opposed to removing the criminal offence of possession, with Detective Chief Superintendent Seamus Boland telling the Irish Examiner that drug policy should take into account that “around 80% of the population don’t use drugs and are still impacted by it” but stressed that gardaí “will enforce” the laws decided by the Oireachtas.

Acknowledging that people feared the impact of decriminalisation, Ms Fitzpatrick, vice-chair of the committee, made this appeal: 

'We just have to face it'

“I would say, face your fear. We just have to face it. We cannot turn our backs on this. It is frightening to hear the [media] headline [about] decriminalisation. 

We have to take our heads out of the sand and we have to move forward with a comprehensive health-led approach.

Committee chairman Gary Gannon, Social Democrats TD, said he understood why people might worry about decriminalisation but asked them to trust the process that led to this call, saying the Citizens’ Assembly and two drug committees “all came to the same determination”.

The report states there should be “further scrutiny and policy approaches to drug use in public spaces” and that local authorities could “discourage and reduce consumption in public areas” by using bylaws they currently have to stop drinking in public.

Elsewhere, the report calls for the current law allowing for a safer injecting room to be expanded into a “broader” drug consumption room, which, it said, would also reduce public drug use.

The report has 18 recommendations on aerosols and inhalants, including mandatory visible health warnings, possible age restrictions, a ban on the sale of large-volume nitrous oxide canisters, and the prohibition of marketing.

'Flying in the face of the Citizens' Assembly'

Consultant Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist Bobby Smyth, clinical lead in three adolescent addiction services, said: "While they are calling it decriminalisation, they should be frank with the Irish people. 

"The actions they advise will make drug use legal. 

In doing so, they are flying in the face of the Citizens' Assembly which stated explicitly that drug use should remain illegal. 

• Cormac O’Keeffe, Security Correspondent
• Louise Burne, Political Correspondent