Mr. Graham de Barra:

I thank the Chairman and members of the committee for inviting us to appear before it today. I am the founder of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, SSDP, in University College, Cork, and the National University of Ireland, Galway. I co-authored today's submission to the committee. My professional experience working in drug policy includes five years working with youth non-governmental organisations, four months with the Pompidou group at the Council of Europe, of which Ireland is a member state, and several consultations in the United Nations. Currently, I am an adviser to SSDP and the director of Help Not Harm.

Our current approach to drug policy in Ireland is a failure. This point is indisputable. There is, on average, one drug-related overdose in Ireland every day, which is almost twice the number of fatal road crash incidents. The national student drug survey indicates that one in two third level students have consumed cannabis in the past 12 months alone. Drugs have never been easier and cheaper to obtain in every town, village and city in the country, from Donegal to Cork. In Ireland, we have arrested 140,000 people for drug possession over the past ten years, making up 75% of all drug arrests. That is 40 arrests every day for possessing small amounts of drugs. A conviction has serious ramifications for a young person's life and the lives of those living in poverty, as the committee well knows. A conviction may restrict education, work and travel. Research from the University of Essex indicates that people with cannabis convictions have 19% lower average lifetime earnings than those who do not. Criminalisation therefore contributes to poverty, stigmatises one in two students and it is not saving lives. A case we came across as recently as last night, through our own members, is that of a young person convicted for possessing cannabis worth €2.

Insanity, as defined by Albert Einstein, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. It is time for Ireland to bring its drug policy into the 21st century. At SSDP, we recommend the decriminalisation of personal drug possession in a holistic approach that includes education and treatment, in light of the committee's report on its trip to Lisbon last June. Many countries have taken this approach already and I commend the committee for investigating the Portuguese example. Ireland has 15 times as many drug-related deaths as Portugal, which has the lowest incidence among all European Union countries. As a result of decriminalising drugs in Portugal in 2001, HIV rates have halved and there has been a reduction in injecting drug use and drug use by minors.

With austerity, a number of Garda stations in the country have closed but somehow we are actively investing scarce resources into arresting 40 people per day on non-violent personal drug possession charges. We do not arrest 40 people per day for hard, violent crime, and the excuse given is that there are not enough resources. We must redistribute Garda resources and determine who is a bigger threat to society. Is it the college student smoking cannabis in his bedroom or the gangs roaming our streets? If a politician wants to be seen as tough on crime, this is the perfect opportunity. We will vote for anybody who comes forward to support decriminalisation.

All drug use, including alcohol consumption, is only problematic for approximately 10% of people, according to Columbus State University. We do not criminalise people who consume alcohol in a harmful way and instead we help them. We should do the same with all drugs. Current drug policy does not prevent drug use but it does prevent people getting help. If our goal is to minimise harm and save lives, the evidence from Portugal indicates that a more balanced, social and just approach with decriminalisation is the minimum solution. With the national drugs strategy due for renewal, we hope the committee will consider our proposals. I thank the committee for listening.