Professor Alex Stevens:

I see the concern, and the criminal law is thought of as a powerful signal of what society will and will not accept. However, if we look at the example of tobacco, there have been dramatic reductions in smoking, including among young people, and it did not take the criminalisation of tobacco to do that. Effective public health education and restrictions on the availability and advertising of that substance have been very effective in reducing the use and harms of that substance. Those are similar models we could adopt if other intoxicating substances like tobacco were available legally. I think Ms Lawlor wants to comment.