Ms Niamh Eastwood:

That is absolutely fine. I would point to the issue of police discretion and also to the idea of escalated approaches within diversion schemes, like the one where on the first occasion people receive a warning, on the second occasion, they receive a fine and on the third, a prosecution. In those circumstances we are more likely to see people who are dependent coming through that route and therefore we are essentially criminalising drug dependency. That is something we really need to avoid.