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

One of the main elements of the report was not paying lip service to our approach but changing the legislation. The Taoiseach said criminalising people for possession of small amounts of drugs, no matter what the drugs are, is simply a waste of resources for the State. Whether people use drugs or not is irrelevant. The proliferation of drugs and availability of drugs is widespread. It is impossible. People in the law enforcement area have said that law enforcement alone simply cannot curtail the availability of drugs or the reasons people take drugs. A lot of people take drugs and never have a problem but there are people who will fall into addiction. Next week, in a test for the Government, People Before Profit is bringing forward a very simple Bill providing for cases where somebody has simple possession of cannabis on their person. We are asking you to have a look at the Bill, which is very short, to endorse it and to let it go to Committee Stage. This is the test. The days of lip service are over and the days of saving lives are here.

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