Ms Niamh Eastwood:

We often say that drug policy is not about the drugs. For the people who are most harmed by drugs policy, it is driven by economic deprivation and social exclusion. I totally agree with the Senator's analysis of the matter.

I would also say that decriminalisation will allow for the maximisation of those policy benefits, potentially, such as investing in homelessness services. So many of our clients are evicted from homelessness services because they are drug users and because of the risk of the criminality around it. We have clients, for example, even in domestic violence situations who come through our helpline who have reported the perpetrator to the police and who then have been accused of using drugs and end up with their kids being taken into care. Our drug laws undermine many of our economic, social and public policies that are trying to support people in difficult circumstances.

Ms Lawlor made a point about investment. The UK has done an analysis that says it spends £1.6 billion on law enforcement every year on drugs and it has little to no impact on the availability of drugs. I think that money could be much better spent in our communities. I totally agree that we need to focus on that.