Marie Sherlock (Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

A huge thanks to Ms Lawlor, Ms Eastwood and Professor Stevens for attending this morning. There was certainly a very powerful call by all three of them with regard to dealing with the reality of drug use in our societies, rather than continuing with the fiction that our criminal justice system has.

I am particularly interested in police culture and how police forces around the world have adapted to decriminalisation. In police forces where every single policeman or policewoman at all levels has been instilled with the ethic that they are engaged in the war against drugs and then, separately with regard to safety in communities, that stop and search is almost an integral part of keeping our streets safe, how have they adapted to decriminalisation? I heard Professor Stevens talk about ensuring that resources and focus go into other areas of crime prevention and detection. I would like to hear a little about how easy or difficult that process has been in police forces in places around the world where possession for personal use has been decriminalised.