Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As has been pointed out, this Bill comes before the Dáil consequent on the recent series of murders in Dublin’s north inner city. The Minister for Health confirmed in the Seanad on 15 June that the Bill had been expedited in response to those murders and because the Government and the Garda Síochána were both of the view that controlling these products under the misuse of drugs legislation would lead to more effective enforcement. In fact, it appears this was the one tool the Garda had specifically requested. While I fully appreciate the seriousness of the situation in Dublin’s north inner city and acknowledge the actions taken by the Government, I have serious concerns about the idea that this Bill is the most effective way to deal with the situation. My doubts are further heightened by the failure to include the promised provisions for supervised injecting facilities. These provisions would have enabled the Minister for Health to issue licences permitting the establishment of supervised injection facilities to provide enhanced clinical support and to mitigate the problem of public injecting by chronic drug users. These provisions have now been kicked down the road.

Most importantly, there is no urgency to the recognition by the Government that continuing down the road of criminalising the use of drugs is not working and that other countries have recognised this and taken a different approach or are in the process of doing so. Put simply, the war on drugs has not worked and it certainly has not worked for those who are criminalised for their use of drugs. The European Drug Report 2016 states that the majority of reported drug law offences relate to the possession of drugs for personal use, rather than for sale. In Europe overall, it is estimated that more than 1 million of these offences were reported in 2014. That is an increase of 24% on the figure that obtained in 2006. Of the reported drug offences, more than three quarters involved cannabis, so we have a significant amount of Garda resources going into charging people with the use of drugs and a very low success rate in the conviction of drug dealers.

If we return to alternative ways of dealing with this, Portugal - a small country like Ireland - recognised in the 1990s that the drug problem had become one of the main concerns of the public, as had the significant increase in the number of people infected with HIV-AIDS and other associated illnesses. My knowledge of Portugal comes from a report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality, whose members visited Lisbon and studied the situation there.

That report acknowledges that drug abuse was not confined to any particular social class but was a universal problem. It also noted that not all addicts were using illicit drugs but were in some cases addicted to prescription drugs. To criminalise, rather than treat, this group of people was viewed as wrong. The first step in Portugal was to remove responsibility for this matter from the justice department and reassign it to the health department. It was also noted that, while it was still an offence to take or possess drugs, the offence is now treated in a similar way to a traffic offence. This provision applies only to possession of a quantity equivalent to up to ten days' supply for personal use. Any person found in possession of drugs must report within 72 hours to a commission for addiction dissuasion for a treatment programme tailored to the individual's needs to ensure the best possible result. The report is worth reading because a number of things are highlighted by the joint Oireachtas committee about the system in Portugal. One advantage is that a person ends up with no criminal record. This is an important component of the approach. The purpose of this provision is to allow the person a second chance to turn his or her life around.

The importance of education was also mentioned. They mentioned the importance of breaking the cycle and highlighted the fact that drug addicts have the opportunity to move away from a life of drugs through positive discrimination when it comes to gaining employment. The system offers employers tax breaks to employ recovering addicts and the state will pay the employee's salary. The employer is required to release the employee for treatment and counselling until his or her programme has concluded. The delegation was told that, in many cases, these employees gained full-time employment and did not go back to using drugs. Deputy Wallace has given other examples, but this is one the Oireachtas looked at. The delegation may not have agreed with the approach, but it certainly thought it was well worth looking at.

The outcome in Portugal has not been an increase in drug taking, nor has it resulted in Portugal becoming a destination for drug tourists. The report sets out the fears that were expressed when the relevant legislation was passed and the outcome 15 years later. It states that drug consumers are no longer looked upon or treated as criminals, either by the authorities or by society. They become less dependent on traffickers and police discretion, and the system has saved money by avoiding thousands of criminal cases dealing with drug consumption, which is very important for police resources, as such cases cost time and money with absolutely no gain.

Closer to home, we have the report from the Royal Society for Public Health in the UK, called Taking a New Line on Drugs. It states, "We need a new, people-centred approach to drug policy, rooted in public health and the best available evidence." The time for reframing the global approach to illicit drugs is long overdue and the imbalance between the criminal justice and health approaches to illicit drugs is counterproductive. This is a high-level report published in the past couple of months. It assessed the situation in the UK as regards the rising harm to health from illegal drugs, with reference to their context within the wider drug-scape, including legal drugs such as alcohol and tobacco, which is particularly important given that we were all at a briefing on the Alcohol Bill today. It sets out a new vision for a holistic, public-health-led approach to drugs policy at a UK-wide level. Indeed, the executive summary states:

At both individual and population level alcohol and tobacco cause far greater harm to health and well being than many of their illegal counterparts. Tobacco kills the most people and alcohol is not far behind with death rates from alcohol misuse on the rise. Alcohol and tobacco use alone costs society more than all class A drugs combined.

It also discusses decriminalising the personal use and possession of all illegal drugs and diverting those whose use is problematic into appropriate treatment centres.

I will finish by asking the Minister to look at these reports and at international evidence and best practice and to let them determine the next strategy and the next piece of legislation that comes before this Dáil so that we can all work together and tackle a problem that will not be tackled by criminalising drug users.

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