Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I thank the witnesses for coming today. This is a very worthwhile debate. I want to go back to the future. That future is in the mid-1970s, 45 years ago and relates to the Misuse of Drugs Act. That is where we started. Obviously that law is still prevalent today. That law was introduced to do a number of things: to stop the proliferation of drugs and to give people criminal sanction for possession or the sale of that material. In my opinion, it has done the opposite. It has enriched a certain number of people in society. It has created a black market and criminal gangs, and it has brought chaos to certain communities in Ireland.

Given all of that, one would have to ask whether the laws around drugs are working or whether they are working against people. I say they are working against people. Senator Lynn Ruane, myself and a few others played a football match in Mountjoy Prison last week. It was a really educational experience. I asked the governor how many people were in Mountjoy for drug related offences. He said more than 80%. He said 80% of people are in prison for one form or another of drug related issues. It is obvious the law does not work. Anyone who says the laws around drugs work is part of the problem.

Given that, we have to do something different. I argue we need to do something very different. The HSE and the Government have paid a lot of lip service to a health-led approach. We are talking about the citizens' assembly next year and that is welcome but this has been talked about for decades. Decriminalisation and even regulation are not a silver bullet by any means. Drugs do terrible things to people who do things they would never do. Drugs do terrible things to communities but drugs are a reality, whether they are illegal or not. In that vein, I am of the opinion we need to do something completely radical. We have to do the opposite now. The more we criminalise people, the more this situation continues.

I have a number of questions to put to Professor Smyth. Are there any circumstances where he could see a model of regulation being put in place rather than what we have at the moment? As a medical doctor and a citizen of this country, are there any kind of circumstances that he could see being introduced, as this system does not work?