Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to contribute to this motion from the Labour Party on decriminalisation and drugs policy. We have been speaking about a drugs crisis and drug abuse in our society for many decades. It is funny that we use the word "crisis", which suggests that something is short-term in nature, when the problem has been going on for decades as well we know. It is having a terribly destructive and detrimental effect on all parts of our society. It is largely thought that it is confined to poorer communities that are disadvantaged when in fact it is spread right across society. Those who are most vulnerable seem to pay the highest price, socially and economically. We can see the fallout of drug abuse and addiction and in our city we do not have to walk too far from this Chamber to see it in its physical form. As other Deputies highlighted, it is right across our country and drug abuse and dealing are endemic in our society, which is sad to say. Unfortunately, it is hard to know what is driving that per sebecause in a lot of cases it is in affluent parts of our society as well.

For those who feel the sharp end of the drugs culture it robs them and their families and children of any bright future. It is largely driven by greed and we have the ignominy in Ireland of having two of the largest drug-dealing gangs in the world operating from bases in Spain but that also have significant ties to Ireland. We also have a two-tiered drug society. We have one group who think of themselves as recreational users of cannabis and cocaine. They see snorting cocaine as not being part of the drugs industry but they look at those who are injecting drugs as somehow being a major part of the problem. Unfortunately, everything is part of the problem because it is adding to this conflagration of drugs that is rampaging across our society. If you speak to psychologists and psychiatrists, they will say they are seeing problems with cannabis use, particularly among the youth, and that paranoia and extreme psychosis are becoming problems for young teenagers who are just dabbling in cannabis. Yet, cannabis is not considered by many to be a gateway drug.

We have a significant amount of work to do on our drugs policy in this country. The citizens' assembly on drugs has to happen as a matter of urgency. We need to get a better defined sense of public opinion on what the problems are and what our population thinks the Government and State can do in terms of adequate responses. Criminalising people for possessing small amounts of drugs seems a retrograde step. We must do something in the area of education. For anybody who spends any time watching television, there is a programme on Netflix which shows the fallout of drug abuse across the north-eastern United States, particularly in Hyannis Port and Cape Cod. One of the things that is stark in that programme is the affluence of the families involved. These families are engaged in sport and have high achievers who started dabbling in drugs, particularly cannabis, at the early stage. They ultimately ended up at the far end of the spectrum taking opioids. That is because if you are dealing with drug dealers, they will present you many options. People who are dabbling in drugs will ultimately move from one thing to another. First and foremost, we need far better education and teeth in the judicial system going after the high-level dealers and the importers of hard drugs.

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