Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)

The Minister of State said that the legalisation of cannabis would lead to increased use. They have not legalised it in Holland, but they have found, now that they have regularised it in a certain sense or adopted a policy of tolerance, that its usage has not increased. In fact, in comparison with Ireland, especially among young people, there is far less usage of it.

On the gateway effect, the Institute of Medicine in Washington DC has done a study on this and it would disagree with the Minister of State. When it comes to the gateway effect, I suppose one of the best examples at which one can look to show that it is not the case is, yet again, Holland. According to a study conducted by the Trimbos Institute in Holland, where one can openly but not legally purchase cannabis, fewer than one in 1,000 teenagers experiment with heroin. Depending on which organisation one listens to, the figure for Ireland is as much as one in 80. If the gateway effect is caused by the legalisation of cannabis-----

See this speech in context