Ms Ruby Lawlor:

I agree. We need decriminalisation and investment in communities. That is absolutely the case. As much as they need to be decoupled in the way that my colleagues have explained, they both need to happen anyway. The money saved through not using the criminal justice system for drug possession and use needs to be funnelled back into communities and into all the services the Deputy has mentioned. It is important to keep to the lens that these communities have been destroyed by drugs, as the Deputy said. Have they been destroyed by drugs or drug policy? To take a step towards ending this harm and destruction of communities, decriminalisation must happen and the profits must be funnelled back into the communities.