Dr. Garrett McGovern:

Professor Smyth stated that alcohol policy in this country is dangerous. While we have not got alcohol policy quite right, there is no doubt that if alcohol was made illegal tomorrow, there would be an exponential increase in the harms involved. We cannot, in a vacuum, look at making alcohol illegal and leave it at that; we would need to compare doing so with what the alternative is. That is what we are doing in the context of all the other drugs. The problem is that whenever someone says that legalisation does not work, we cannot point to any examples in this country of a legalised system of currently illicit drugs. Therefore, you have to ask the question as to what you would do to make the situation better if you are not going to regulate those drugs. I can only read from this that you would make them more prohibited and make the sanctions greater. I would like an answer to that because I never get an answer when that question is asked. We tend to only talk about legalisation. We have only known a paradigm of prohibition.

There is no doubt that, in the context of the most important metrics, the Portuguese model, while not perfect by any means, has put Portugal in a far better situation than is was in 2001. Yes, regulation or changing drug policy is only one factor. They increased the level of help and support that people got and the stigma around seeking help was reduced. You look, therefore, at increased numbers in isolation. When the level of stigma goes down, people admit things. Senator Ruane made the point that people will lie. They will do so for very good reason. We can sit here today and continue to do what we are doing, but more and more people will come to harm and die. That is a fact. It is irrefutable.