Ms Céire Moynihan:

If I might add, I think the Deputy is in agreement with what we are trying to do with the assembly when he mentioned Ivy League. It is a pan-societal issue. Some would say that is why we are talking about it now and that it is because it is affecting every strata of society. It is not just the marginalised areas any more and now, all of a sudden, everyone stands up and wants to tackle this issue.

The Deputy mentioned that the potency of cannabis increasing and stated that some people think it is a soft drug. It is exactly this kind of behavioural norm that we are trying to get away from. There is no such thing as a soft drug. Every drug is harmful because it is harming people further down the ladder. They need suppliers. There are children being groomed from the age of seven to deal with supplying for these criminal gangs who have absolutely no regard for life. They are all interconnected. There is no such thing as a soft drug. There is no such thing as a drug user who does not have a harmful effect somewhere else in society. As soon as we start to realise that we are all interconnected and part of this issue we will not resolve it.