James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the motion and concur with my colleagues who have spoken. I will focus on the issue of criminalisation.

Previous contributors have spoken about the numbers and the funds needed to reduce the damage drugs and alcohol can do to individuals, communities and the State in terms of the resources spent in combating their influence. There is no doubt about the damage that can be and is being caused. When we consider alcohol and tobacco and the range of other substances used and abused, there is comparatively very little difference between them. Alcohol can be easily purchased and imbibed; people can fall over, become addicted and their difficulties spill over into their families and employment and in extreme cases lead to serious illness and death. The same is true of tobacco, as has been well documented. Although public health policy is catching up, tobacco is still legal, albeit expensive. I am no Puritan. I am not condemning anyone for using these drugs or substances, as I also use them, but they are the legal. However, if we put their use in context and put them with many other substances, the argument for decriminalisation is well worth reviewing. I wonder if we were to describe alcohol and tobacco and their effects and they were to be introduced to the market in the morning under another name, would they be approved? I very much doubt that they would.

Previous contributors touched on the variety of strengths, strains and ingredients of illegal drugs and their consumption. There is no regulation, quality control or testing. There is no safety. It is often said what is measured is managed. However, there is no measurement of illegal substances. by definition, there cannot be. That, in itself, is a contributory factor. There was a report in The Irish Timesa few weeks ago that indicated that the potency of cannabis, which at one stage might have been thought to be a soft drug had massively increased in the past 20 years. That is an example of something that has happened in the background in the illegal, dark spaces of the black market that is not being measured or managed. We have to wonder what else is in the unknown?

Legal drugs, prescription drugs, are also an issue. I recently read a book entitled, The Spirit Level, about equality in society. It considers the epidemic in the USA which will spill over to Ireland before too long. We all know about the rust belt and the "flyover" states where economic decline has led to lack of employment, etc. Reported less often is the epidemic of prescription drug abuse which contributes further to the decline of communities. With obesity, this and similar issues amount to a huge public health crisis which is beginning to unfold.

If one walks in on any given day to the Criminal Courts of Justice or any criminal court one will see an all too familiar spectacle, predictable and depressing, because almost every defendant will to some degree suffer from substance abuse or addiction. They may not be there on drugs offences but on petty crime or theft offences, perhaps to support their habit. That is a huge drain on the resources of the State, including the courts, the HSE and the supporting apparatus.

Minor miracles are performed by many agencies, some of which have been mentioned. In my constituency I am familiar with Tiglin where Aubrey and Fergal McCarthy do a fantastic job in running a support centre. Individuals and groups achieve minor miracles in managing against the odds. With honourable exceptions, the approach to date is not working. It is time to think differently.

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