Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I thank the witnesses for their opening statements. They were quite enlightening and informative about this very complex debate. Drug use is a reality. We have been trying to grapple with the situation for the past 50 years in Ireland and elsewhere. It involves how to look at different forms of stopping criminalising people because that has not worked and has been counterproductive.

My main question concerns the opposition to a different model. Obviously, the model we are talking about here is decriminalisation, regulation and everything in between. At the end of the day, it is about saving lives and making things safer for those who want to use drugs. This debate is important even for those who do not use drugs in any capacity. It is a societal issue with which we need to grapple. In this country, opposition to changing course comes in many forms. It comes in the form of a belief that the status quo is okay. It can also be a belief in being more draconian by considering harsher penalties in terms of criminalisation. Where do the witnesses see the neo-opposition to progressing this issue? The public, particularly in Ireland in the past five or six years, has moved beyond politicians. It believes that we have had 50 years of this and it does not work so we should look at something different. People have to be given an alternative. If they are given an alternative, that is a rational way of looking at things differently, people will listen and people are listening. Where do the witnesses see the opposition in terms of this issue in the next five to ten years across the world?