Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank our guests. It is really great to have people with such wide experience talking. Dr. Ó Concubhair also has lived experience. In his opening statement, he made some points highlighting what is becoming a common theme here, that is, that the present war on drugs is not winnable and that recreational drug use is essentially a fact of life. I drink alcohol. That is my vice. It is not a vice but it is what I engage in. We are all afraid of the pathway we are now considering, opening wider society up to a large number of alternative drugs and openly allowing into society a large number of drugs we currently interdict through criminal sanctions and policing work. What are the witnesses' thoughts on that statement? I will start with Dr. Ó Concubhair, if he does not mind.