Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise an issue in respect of the programme for Government, specifically the health-led approach to drug misuse outlined on page 50. Previous Governments have paid lip service to this issue. So much so, that thousands of people would still be alive had it not been for the lip service that Governments have paid to this issue. We have to take a different approach. The current approach does not work. Criminalising people for drug use simply does not work and is completely to the person and to society as a whole. The programme for Government states that a citizens' assembly should be convened to consider the matter. That is good. However, we need to go beyond that. We need to take action to save lives. We must take a different approach to drug misuse, because the current approach does not work. It costs lives. If the Government does not change its approach, it will cost more lives.

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