Lynn Ruane (Independent)
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Progress is not subjective then. It is about making sure that language matches action. Reducing from ten bags a day to three bags a day will massively change somebody's life. It would be hoped that the person would progress. That might form part of the review so that those two things match. If the idea of going onto a silver phase is the golden bullet, for what of a better term, if somebody were to remove that primary substance, we would have a lot less addiction. It is about understanding the nature of addiction and harm reduction in and of itself. A harm reduction model would recognise that elimination may not be possible, which I am sure the witnesses know. I do not need to say that. What we say the progression piece does in being subjective is probably not the reality. It is not necessarily a criticism. It is more about an acknowledgement that the language should match the actual trajectory.

The issue of street use has come up a lot. There is a programme with the Garda that works with people at that street level; I think Mr. Duffin used the phrase "street involved". It has come up a lot over the past few months that there is a hiccup for some countries that want the decriminalisation model to be held onto, where they have seen some back-pedalling on it. The equivalent to the Garda in those countries are saying they want to maintain a decriminalised model but the public use element is not being dealt with adequately. The Government should direct the county councils on public order in the same way it would with alcohol. However, that will have some sort of negative adverse effect on street-involved people, where the street is the only place they have. As well as trying to legislate for public use in some ways, in order that a decriminalisation model is fully supported and empowered by the whole of society, what else needs to go hand in hand with that? This is so people who are on the streets have a safe place to use beyond injecting. What are Mr. Duffin's thoughts on that?