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

I thank colleagues for their contributions. This discussion has been a little more progressive than the debate in the House 11 years ago on a similar proposal. I completely disagree with some of the views expressed. An argument that has always really annoyed me is that cannabis is a gateway to harder drugs. That is absolute rubbish. When people talk about harder drugs, they are referring to heroin. The gateway to heroin is not cannabis; it is poverty, alienation and serious trauma. We should remember that alcohol has a lot to answer for in this country. It is a legal drug. I can walk out the doors of this Chamber and straight through the doors of two bars that will serve me as much alcohol as I want.

Alcohol kills four people a day in this country, which is 5% of all deaths. If we go down the road of making alcohol illegal, if we think the drug wars were bad wait until the alcohol wars come in. Wait and see, it will put the drug wars into the ha'penny place. I find it incredible that Deputy Healy Rae says that cannabis is a gateway drug. He owns a pub. Alcohol is a psychoactive substance. Most people drink in this country, but most people do not have problematic use but there are people who have problematic use with alcohol and they die. There is a terrible issue around that.

I note some of the terminology the Minister of State has used about undermining the citizens' assembly and it being premature and deeming it to be disrespectful. I do not know who writes this stuff but we have been waiting for six decades for this debate. Things have moved on but I am not sure if the Government has moved on. I think that public opinion has become much more progressive regarding this issue. People are not hung up on the old tropes of stigmatisation and the rhetoric that can be used against people who use drugs. Most people who use drugs do not have problematic use. We acknowledge, however, that some people do. These people should get treatment as soon as possible. There is a huge shortage of treatment beds in this country, and when people get treatment, the outcomes are very good.

Regarding the proliferation of drugs, since the 1970s, the availability of all sorts of drugs has increased. We cannot police ourselves out of a situation of the proliferation of drugs. It is just not possible. Other jurisdictions across the world have said that this is absolutely impossible. The amount of resources that goes into trying to stop drugs is largely a waste. Other jurisdictions, particularly in South America, have now said that all the resources that go into preventing drugs - not only what happens in their countries, but into Europe and the United States - simply do not work. They are looking at different models of decriminalisation and regulation. That is very important.

Regarding the medical cannabis access programme, in 2019 the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 was amended in relation to those who can get access to medical cannabis. Fewer than 100 people have got access, some via licence and some via the medical cannabis access programme. The irony at the end of it in this particular issue is that some people who have got a licence for medical cannabis can have more than 7g on their person. In some cases it can be multiples of that if they are on licence for medical cannabis. They are lawfully allowed to possess cannabis if they have a prescription. However, if a person does not have prescription he or she can be prosecuted. There are huge discrepancies regarding that and the legislation we are talking about.

In my life experience growing up in Clondalkin I saw the terrible dark side of addiction. I saw what happens to individuals, communities and society as a whole. There is a dark side to drugs, which we all acknowledge. However, my life experience tells me that continually criminalising people, putting people in prison and wasting vast resources in containment, jailing people and bringing people through the criminal justice system does not work. We have to look at different models as to how we can go about changing course.

One of the models is decriminalisation. To be clear, I am talking about decriminalising the person rather than the drugs. That is a good model but to me it does not go far enough. There are shortcomings regarding decriminalisation even in Portugal. It is not a perfect panacea by any means; nothing is a perfect panacea, but something is better than letting people die. That is what is happening with drug-related deaths. We have to change course and to do so we need to change our mindset and we need to change our laws. If we do not change the laws, it is lip service. I have no doubt that there are elements of this Government who are happy enough with the status quo. In fact, they probably want to go more medieval than they have done before. I do not know where the members of the Green Party are today. The Green Party has quite a progressive policy on cannabis and drugs in general, but they will be voting against this Bill. They have completely sold their soul for the last four years. There are some very good people in the Green Party on a lot of issues that we have discussed in the lifetime of this Government.

It is disappointing, considering the citizens' assembly recommendations. The citizens' assembly Chair has been unequivocal when he stated that there is no time to waste. We need to change course and change how people are dealt with in relation to drug use in Ireland. That means legislative change. If we do not change legislation we will be in the same room in ten years time, probably talking about the same issues and the same problems. Something has to change. Where there is a will there is a way. That is the most important thing. Many people listening to and viewing this debate might have had different opinions on this issue a number of years ago. They may have changed and some people may have changed to the opposite side and become more in favour of locking people up. However, I am of the firm view that the majority of people in this country have moved on. They want to see things change in this country with legislative change and harm reduction. In that sense, as a public representative for the last eight and a half years, I think it is disappointing to hear the same rhetoric and the same lip service being paid to this issue. I think the Government is on the wrong side of history on this issue. The Government has a chance with the special Oireachtas committee to make the changes, but the jury is out in relation to that.

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