Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Before that, I will give an idea of where I am coming from. There is nothing as soul-destroying as when one is dealing with families where there is a drug problem that grows and grows and eventually tears the family apart. The Minister of State spoke of stigma. The stigma is as a result of continued reliance on particular drugs. We need to address that. The whole concept of methadone is to encourage people away from dependency on drugs.

It has been suggested that if we legalise the drugs system, everything will be okay. When prohibition was abolished in the United States, the use of alcohol increased by 3,500%. Things do not change insofar as things like this are concerned. That is a fact of life. Are we spending enough time addressing medically and psychologically the issue of dependency on drugs, even the minor drugs that are gateway drugs, are proven to be and are recognised as serious?