Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Dáil Éireann: notes that:

— during the past 25 years of a law-enforcement approach to drug abuse, drug-related deaths have increased by 225 per cent, compared to a 68 per cent reduction in road deaths in the same period, with the total number of such deaths well exceeding 10,500;

— Ireland now has the joint-highest rate of drug-induced deaths among 16 to 64-year-olds in the European Union (EU);

— the number of people prosecuted for possession for personal use has increased over that period by 484 per cent, with more than a quarter of a million convictions recorded for that offence;

— in the same period there has been a substantial overall increase in drug use, with use of cocaine rising by 10,376 per cent, benzodiazepines by 1,824 per cent and cannabis by 263 per cent;

— drug abuse and its harmful effects, including crimes of violence, intimidation and extortion aimed at addicts, their families and their communities, are no longer urban phenomena and are spread across the State;

— despite enabling legislation being passed in 2017, followed by Health Service Executive (HSE) procurement and the selection of a preferred operator to run the State's first medically supervised injecting facility in Dublin City Centre, this urgent initiative is still stalled;

— although in 2019 the Government announced a health diversion programme, involving mandatory referrals to the HSE, the programme applies only to adults caught in possession for the first time, and progress on the implementation of this very limited initiative is acknowledged as "slow" in the mid-term review of the National Drugs Strategy;

— there is no firm commitment to further progress on drugs treatment courts, to assist offenders with drug-related problems;

— despite the significant number of people who abuse drugs and suffer from a mental health illness, our mental health services and addiction treatment centres are still not organised to holistically treat people with a dual diagnosis; and

— the Programme for Government: Our Shared Future committed the parties in Government to convening a citizens' assembly on drugs but, despite the Taoiseach's stated intention to do so in "the latter part of this year", there is so far no indication as to whether or when it will be held;

agrees that:

— overall, there has been a lack of visibility at Minister or Minister of State level, a lack of joined up thinking between Ministers, Departments and State agencies, and a lack of focus, energy and urgency in spearheading the State's response to drugs;

— the policy of criminalisation of the user has failed, nationally and internationally, the resources of the State are wasted on inappropriately processing medical addiction cases through the courts and prisons, and a health-led and patient-focussed alternative is needed;

— the previous international consensus in the West on a law-enforcement approach to drugs is now collapsing, and over 30 countries have decriminalised drug possession for personal use in some form;

— the worst harms of a criminalisation policy are experienced by people and communities who are already disadvantaged and marginalised, and a reformed approach must operate in the context of strategies to combat poverty and marginalisation;

— a community-based health-led alternative response would target the adverse health, social and economic consequences of drug use and would provide harm reduction services to address disease transmission and overdoses; and

— the 2001 Portuguese initiative of decriminalising possession of drugs and introducing a health diversion scheme, with a resulting significant decline in drug deaths in Portugal while they continue to rise across the EU, merits particular study; and

calls for:

— a firm date to be fixed for convening the citizens' assembly on drugs, with the assembly requested by its terms of reference to:

— make central to its deliberations the lived experience of individuals, families and communities who have directly experienced the impact of drug abuse, so that harm reduction and recovery strategies are developed in collaboration with those most directly affected;

— ensure that, while it may legitimately join with other EU countries in considering whether to legalise possession of cannabis for personal use, this question does not distract from the separate and urgent debate about changes in policy and approach needed in order effectively to promote the rehabilitation and recovery of persons addicted to harmful drugs; and

— specifically consider a policy that continues to tackle organised crime gangs involved in drug trafficking and dealing, but offers a non-criminal and comprehensive public health treatment, rehabilitation and recovery alternative for persons in possession of drugs for personal use;

— emergency amending legislation to facilitate mobile supervised injection facilities, for both urban and regional sites;

— regulatory oversight of all addiction treatment services, with a commitment to client centred and evidence-based recovery programmes;

— a significant increase in funding for Drug and Alcohol Task Forces and the conferring of an added educational remit, in liaison with schools and in community settings; and

— the expansion of the work of the Criminal Assets Bureau to target and seize smaller assets in local communities with the full resources of An Garda Síochána targeted at organised crime gangs, traffickers and dealers.

I send my best wishes to my former colleagues and the children, staff and school community of St. Laurence O'Toole's National School, which I used to teach in, who are opening their new school building today. I believe the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, will be opening it. I cannot be with them because of this debate, but they know I love them very much and they are with me always.

If we were to invite a family member of every individual who died from a drug overdose last year to sit in this Chamber, we would not have enough room for everyone. This is the most famous room in Ireland and these seats have been filled by famous people over the past 100 years or so. If we were to invite a single family member of every individual who had died from a drug overdose in Ireland to sit here, we would not have enough room. They would have to sit in the Public Gallery. In 2017, 235 people died from drug overdoses. That figure has got worse year on year. We have one of the highest drug overdose rates in Europe.

If those family members were to sit in these seats, what would we say to them? I suppose we would want to understand the complexity of the issue and show compassion. We would want to listen to experts, who say that there are overlapping issues of poverty, disadvantage and alienation that lead someone into drug use and addiction. We would want to understand all of that. If we were honest, though, we in the political system would look at those family members and tell them that the people they loved and who died were criminals.

This is at the centre of what we are trying to change through this motion. The Labour Party wants to stand with those family members. It wants to stand with those in addiction, those who are suffering and those who are in recovery. It wants to tell them plainly and simply they are not criminals. The criminalisation of drug users is part of a stigma and a shame culture. It is a deliberate act of public policy. It is not drugs that kill people as much as bad drugs policy does. The Labour Party believes we do not need a war on drugs. Rather, we need a war on bad drugs policy. Criminalising and stigmatising people in addiction leads to people in the political system undermining and dehumanising people who need support and compassion. It leads to a then Minister throwing leaflets around her constituency telling her constituents that the newly opened medical centre in her area would not be dealing methadone. It leads to a backbencher using dehumanising language when speaking about someone in addiction. It leads to the most ineffective and absent Minister and Minister of State with responsibility for this area in a generation. The feeling from the political system is that what drug users are doing is criminal and what they are is worthless.

It is not just the political system that feels this way. The medical system feels this way too. My colleague, Senator Sherlock, tells me that, in Dublin, only 28% of GPs are involved in the methadone programme. That is replicated throughout the country. It leads to a bizarre situation where, as Fr. Peter McVerry told us on Monday night, people are travelling from Wexford to Dublin to get their methadone. I know this to be true because I once met a woman called Lisa. Lisa was living in Portlaoise. She was a young mother who used to travel by bus from Portlaoise to Dublin every day to get her methadone. The sad thing is that, when engaging with Lisa, I had the feeling she believed she was not worth any more than that and could not demand a better service because she felt on some level she was a criminal and was worthless. We forced this young mother to go from Portlaoise to Dublin every day on a bus to get her methadone. When I called into that centre a number of months later, I asked about Lisa. I was told she had not survived. We killed her. She was not a criminal. She was not worthless.

I knew a man called Paul who had a daughter with cystic fibrosis. The Minister of State should have seen the way they spent time together. They loved each other deeply. There was a sparkle in her eyes when she saw him. He was not well and she was not well. She did not make it because of her illness. As a result, he did not make it because of his. He was not a criminal and he was not worthless.

The Misuse of Drugs (Supervised Injecting Facilities) Act was passed by the Oireachtas in 2017. What would any of us say if we came across a dead body following a heroin overdose in a laneway and we held that body in our arms? Would we say to that person that the planning application was tied up in the High Court and there was nothing we could do? People are dying in the alleyways of our capital city but we have not made the necessary intervention to save their lives, that being, a mobile facility implemented through emergency legislation. We are the criminals. We are the ones who are useless. It is our inaction that is criminal, not the actions of those who are dying.

Mr. Philly McMahon, a former Dublin footballer whose brother died of drug-related issues, says we need a tribe for change. I can speak of people in this House who are part of that tribe. I remember trying with my Labour Party colleagues to get the injecting centre idea over the line. It was people like the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe of Fine Gael, and former Deputy Jonathan O'Brien of Sinn Féin who were supportive. Even today, I hear people like Deputy McAuliffe from Fianna Fáil making good speeches on decriminalisation. Colleagues like Deputy Hourigan of the Green Party, Deputy Cairns of the Social Democrats and Independent Senator Ruane are speaking seriously about this issue. I think of people like Deputy Gino Kenny, who has been a warrior in this field. We absolutely need a tribe to change this conversation from being about criminality and worthlessness to one that replicates what happened in Portugal 20 years ago when it decriminalised the drug user.

After 20 years, it has half the number of people in drug-dependency programmes and has reduced its drug overdose rate by 75%.

The Labour Party's call today is quite simple. We stand with those affected by this issue. You are not criminals. You are absolutely not worthless. We need people to understand and to completely recast their view of this debate. The Government has promised a citizens' assembly on drugs. We need to hold establish that assembly because people are dying on our watch. It is our inaction that is criminal.

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