Michael Harty (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is a nationwide issue., not just a Dublin problem. The principle underlying this legislation is better outcomes for patients. It is primarily about saving their lives. Remember, we cannot rehabilitate someone who is dead. We must give them every support that we can.

In terms of the policing aspect of this issue, it requires common sense policing. It requires a sensitive approach from An Garda Síochána and this is challenging. There must be an acceptance that intravenous drug users who are approaching these supervised centres are in need of a different type of policing. There is a difference between an intravenous drug user in possession of drugs going into an injection centre and someone who is selling or supplying drugs in the vicinity. Certainly, there is no intention that the injection facilities will be in any way related to the sale and supply of intravenous drugs. Gardaí need to play a very supportive role and should protect rather than victimise the intravenous drug users. After all, drug users are the victims in this situation. They are not the criminals or the people supplying the drugs. They, unfortunately, have been abused by criminals who have gotten them hooked on these drugs. They are victims more than anything else. We must have a health-led approach to drug users, rather than criminalising them. This is not a criminal justice matter, but a health matter. It requires co-operation from the health services, the police and the local authorities.

I draw the attention of the Minister of State to the testimony of one of the witnesses who appeared before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health when we discussed this issue, Professor Gerard Bury. He is a Professor of General Practice in Dublin and is very involved in the provision of medical services for intravenous drug users in the city. He offers his services voluntarily, as do many others, in looking after intravenous drug abusers. He is deeply frustrated about the availability of Naloxone. This is a drug that is used to reverse the side effects, particularly the respiratory failure side effects, of intravenous drug overdose. It has saved many lives but Professor Bury is very frustrated at the lack of availability of this drug for GPs who want to provide a service to counteract the side effects of overdose. He feels that the drug is a potential life saver and argues that if it is made more widely available, it will save lives on our streets. He wants to drive that message home as strongly as possible and I am assisting him now in doing that. I would be grateful if the Minister of State would consider making that drug more widely available in order to save lives.

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