Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

In supporting the amendment I want to reiterate the points that have been made and say, as I did when the Bill first came before the Dáil, that it is very difficult to understand how a Bill shaped by An Garda Síochána, which is responsible for the area of justice, comes to the Department of Health. If the Department of Health is proposing a measure the Garda believe will help it in the war on crime or stop gangland killings, it should come through the Department of Justice and Equality, but this Bill is coming through the Department of Health.

When we consider the holistic approach to drugs in this society, as stated by Deputy Wallace, we are way behind the times when we compare ourselves not just to modern countries like Switzerland and Portugal but also to some of the Third World countries like Uruguay and Paraguay, which have moved to legalise and curtail the amount distributed to each individual who requires it. I will move a Bill later to legalise cannabis for medicinal purposes but this amendment acknowledges that the personal use of drugs is rampant, particularly in impoverished parts of our inner cities. It reflects not just the availability of these drugs but, importantly, the alienation and detachment felt by many people who have no stake in society and who have been brought up to believe they are worthless. They failed in education and in employment, so why not fail at everything else? They are on a housing list but they will never get a home. When they seek to use the services that are put into communities for projects that will help their addiction and help them live better lives with their families, they find that the funding for those projects has been cut. The message those people get all the time is that they are pretty much worthless, and the pain and historical baggage they have in their lives is often inured by taking drugs, many of which until now have been illegal. We are now introducing a Bill to make it illegal to carry drugs that are available on prescription. This Bill will make the problem implode rather than address it because it is being approached from a criminal rather than a health point of view.

As has been said, if we had our way we would be costing the State money. We would say that, at the very least, the Government should reverse all the nasty cuts the previous Government imposed on the drugs projects, the family projects and the youth projects throughout the inner city. At the very least it should provide a decent number of detoxification beds and facilities for people who have issues with addiction. If the Minister will not do that, she should stop criminalising those who have a health problem and no way out of that other than through the use of drugs, which takes their minds off the horrible lives they live.

The amendment is important because it provides that those who carry prescription drugs for personal use are not criminalised. If they are not criminalised, then resources are freed because the courts and prisons will not be so choked up, as well as Garda time. It is quite a positive amendment in that regard. I would throw the whole Bill out if I had my way, but clearly this is what we have to live with. I will urge people to support this amendment later.

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