Lynn Ruane (Independent)
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Does that still involve a garda stopping and searching you, finding you are in possession, and him deciding whether you need diversion? The whole threat of stop and search is criminalisation back a step because it still involves policing. Should you only be stopped and searched if there is suspicion around whether you are selling drugs or involved in the sale and supply? A person who is on the street who may have heroin in his or her pocket and quite clearly coming in and out of Merchants Quay is not, so there are all of those differentiations. Where does the police force come in at all and should it only be involved if there is suspicion around criminal activity? If possession of a drug is not a criminal activity, why should stop and search exist for something that is not a criminal activity?