Drugs strategy is not working - Minister’s proposal

THE proposal by junior minister Aodhán Ó Ríordáin to decriminalise drug use, up to and including heroin use, may run counterintuitive to most people’s sensibilities.

Many may find it repulsive that, if the proposal is accepted at a meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Justice Committee at its meeting today, legislation will be enacted that will make it perfectly legal for people to smoke cannabis or hash or inject themselves with heroin, among other forms of drug use.

But the plan by Minister Ó Ríordáin, who is in charge of the National Drugs Strategy, is grounded in the real world where, sadly, illicit drug use is growing. Speaking in London, where he was addressing a workshop on drugs policy, Mr Ó Ríordáin described the model he proposes as progressive and humane unlike at present where 70% of drug convictions in Ireland are for possession for personal use.

It will include the provision of medically supervised injection centres for use by intravenous drug users. “Those resources could be much better used tackling the pushers, not the takers,” he said — and it is hard to argue with that.

However, this is something that should not be rushed into and it will require debate and discussion. It must also include treatment for addicts which has been shown elsewhere to be far more effective than criminalisation in tackling substance abuse. The reality is that the current drugs strategy is simply not working.