Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 22 March 2017

Select Committee on Health

Misuse of Drugs (Supervised Injecting Facilities) Bill 2017: Committee Stage

2:30 pm

Photo of Kate O'ConnellKate O'Connell (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not want to start a big row. I have the height of respect for any Member who has been here since 1981 and gets legislation far better than I probably ever will. I understand some Members’ concerns about the turning of a blind eye to the sale of illegal drugs. As I said on Second Stage, the legal classification of a drug does not change its side effect profile. It does not matter whether it is legal or not. It will be the same side effect and same problem.

I have worked in methadone services for years and was a pharmacist in regional towns 12 years ago during the epidemic stages of heroin use in the midlands. To echo what the Minister of State said, this cohort is on the fringes of society and has managed to escape the GP, local community services and so forth. These are vulnerable people down alleyways or in backyards, sharing syringes and bits of tinfoil, using bad diluents and bad solvents and ending up with secondary conditions as a result of their heroin habit. We can either let these people continue to die in alleyways or we can try to do something about it. We can all say it is terrible and ask why people take these drugs. We can honestly make efforts towards dealing with the societal issues which lead people into this but that is a work in progress. This legislation is about dealing with a problem on our doorstep.

Sometimes medicine is not about curing people. Sometimes it is just about managing people and giving families a chance. The Minister of State spoke about saving lives. This sort of service can save the lives of the individuals in question but it can have a massive knock-on effect for their families too. There is an attitude that heroin use only affects the worst-off in society and is a certain class issue. It happens in nice sitting rooms the same way it happens in alleyways, however. In anything we do with health policy, it should be to try to reduce harm.

I understand the issues of the legality and the scheduling of heroin. While it is a schedule 1 drug here, these facilities have been established in other countries where it is also a schedule 1 drug. If it can happen in other countries, it can happen here. I would not be against a review of the facility or policy in a year’s time. However, I do not envisage a situation where, if an injecting centre is set up and these clean environments are provided, people will wake up some morning and decide to start taking heroin. This is for people already on heroin. There is a small cohort of users who cannot be targeted by services. When it comes to rehabilitation points, these people are not in any way engaged. If we can get them into these centres and develop a rapport and relationship with the people on site, we then have some chance of tapping in and improving their lives, the lives of their families and communities.

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