Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is not about stigmatisation. I am going to have to outline the basics. The war on drugs is an American system that came through the UN treaty. If the Minister of State goes back right to the 1970s, to his party, Fine Gael, and to the Fianna Fáil Party, he will see the conversation on what the war on drugs means and where the drugs legislation came from. It originates from the UN treaty and the war on drugs, which was about prohibition and the criminalisation of people. We are not window-dressing any more; it is not a cosmetic thing that we just need to end stigmatisation. That is not what the war on drugs means. I am not going to allow the war on drugs as an effective response to go out in news articles today. People got hope from the statement, but that would not be the case if they heard what we have just listened to today. Does the Minister of State believe that people who use drugs are criminals?