Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this issue and I acknowledge the work of Deputy Kenny in bringing it forward. While I certainly accept that Deputy Kenny is motivated by what he believes is the best approach to this issue, I cannot support the aim of this Bill which is to make it legally permissible for a person to possess up to a stated amount of cannabis resin for adult personal use. I accept that we should have a lenient approach to persons in the throes of addiction but effectively removing all legal sanction for possession of what remains a very dangerous drug is something I cannot support. As a study carried out by researchers from the Department of Psychiatry, RCSI and Beaumont Hospital found, cannabis use during youth is of great concern as the developing brain may be particularly susceptible to harm during this period.

We also know from research that when 1,600 Australian children aged 14 and 15 years were studied for seven years, those who used cannabis every day were five times more likely to become depressed and anxious by the end of the study. What I want to see is more emphasis on drug use prevention and avoidance.

My counties of Offaly and Laois are profoundly under-resourced when it comes to tackling illegal drugs. As I understand it, there is just one Garda member assigned to the Laois-Offaly divisional drug unit. My constituency's local drugs unit had fewer gardaí assigned to it than any other unit in the country. That is unacceptable and needs to change.

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