Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I welcome our witnesses. I would like to stay on the issue of legislation and supply. My questions are for all three witnesses. I will be honest; the option of decriminalisation poses a worry for some people insofar as we would clear the decks and allow a supply chain to operate over which we have no control. What is the international evidence or what has been seen in different regions where there has been decriminalisation of use but no corresponding addressing of or engagement with the supply chain? What might that mean for communities? Perhaps we could speak about the impacts on policing, in terms of the issue of decriminalisation, where there is a supply chain issue and no possibility for the police to engage with users as a way of following the chain up to the gangs supplying.

At last week's meeting, I put a question on potency to some of the departmental officials. Does removing the focus for police on low-level use mean that they can reorganise their focus to look at things like potency? Based on last week's discussion, it seems that there is no engagement in respect of the matter of potency.

If there is legalisation in relation to most drugs, do we envisage that having an impact on treatment for addiction? I refer, for example, to things like access to heroin addiction programmes? Those questions are for all three witnesses.