Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

We have to be bold and radical in how we look at this issue. We need to look at the underlying issues of dependency and at different forms of how different countries have tackled drug dependency. Portugal has been cited. It is not perfect by any means but it is better than what we have at present. The elephant in the room that many people do not want to talk about, however, is the regulation where the black market essentially controls all drugs. This is the irony at the end of the day. Controlled drugs, which are on the statutory books in this country, are not controlled by the State. They are controlled by the black market. Once you have that situation all the time, you will have deaths and the chaos that comes with unregulated systems.

We have a chance with the two reports to look at things very differently but I do not believe the current Government or successive Governments have the stomach to go after this. It is not going to be absolutely perfect. It is not a panacea by any means but it will certainly save lives and stop stigmatising and criminalising people. We have had 50 years of this and it simply has not worked. We need something different. I have cited this again but public opinion has moved on in this but certain elements of the Government and Departments have not. In fact, they are happy enough with the status quo where working-class communities destroy themselves and are allowed to cannibalise the black market as well as the horrible thing that go on with drug dependency and the drug trade. You have to tackle down-the-line issues and take control of certain drugs that are unregulated. That is my view on things and I think with that different form of policy, you can save lives and stop bringing people through the criminal system.