Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)

One of my first political experiences was canvassing in a block of flats in Dublin. As I walked up the stairwell in the block of flats, I noticed, first, a pair of women's tights on the stairwell. When I got higher, I noticed a discoloured spoon near the top of the stairwell and when I got to the very top, there was a 17-year-old boy lying on the ground, practically unconscious, foaming at the mouth. We did our best to try to help him. It was clear that he had taken heroin and was suffering as a result. A few minutes later, a young boy in a Christian Brothers school uniform walked around the corner and stepped over him like it was nothing. It was very clear to me that unless there was some kind of intervention in this area, in these families, the seven-year-old boy would be in the same position as the 17-year-old boy in a number of years.

There are two major problems with that. First, if there is no intervention on a human level, these individuals are being left to an horrendous life of ill health, addiction and likely death as well. Even if you did not give a damn about the human aspect of this, there is a societal problem too. The sale and supply of these drugs is ravaging whole sections of Irish society with deaths and of people spending decades in prisons as well. There is a real need for the State to actually get serious about drugs. It is not serious about drugs at all. To a certain extent, if many of these individuals in such situations were from the leafy suburbs, it would be an issue of far more importance here in Leinster House. Any drugs policy needs to have as its objective the reduction of harm. That has to be the absolute objective in relation to any issue on an individual basis and on a societal basis as well. Drugs cause harm. The consumption of drugs leads to significant harm, even if there is no criminality involved. Even the consumption of cannabis leads to significant mental health issues. It leads to psychosis and schizophrenia and it can lead to significant physical health problems as well, never mind other drugs. The objective of any policy has to include the reduction of the use of drugs. It is often said in this House that there is a dichotomy and that it is either a health-led issue or a criminal approach and that is not the truth. We could actually have both running in tandem. There is no real health-led element in this Government. In my own constituency, there are no residential rehabilitation beds for young people who want to get off drugs. A 17-year-old kid in my county at the moment who is addicted to drugs and actually wants to get off them has no real help whatsoever.

I have heard other people say that there is evidence in certain areas that the decriminalisation of drugs can lead to increased use, increased damage to health and increased overdoses, as has happened in certain jurisdictions. It is easier for parents to warn their kids off the consumption of drugs by telling them that it is illegal rather than just harmful. The use of illegal drugs on a regular basis is at about 10% within society at the moment, which is far lower than drugs that are completely legal, such as alcohol. It strikes me as strange that we are having a big discussion about the potential decriminalisation of, I think, nearly all drugs at this stage, and at the same time trying to reduce access to cigarettes and vapes, knowing that even these could create difficulty for individuals' health. Our party would not be in support of the decriminalisation of drugs. We believe that the Government actually has a bigger job in making sure that the law is implemented. We have no ships to patrol the seas to check the people who are bringing drugs in on the seas to this country. There are 53 Garda stations in Ireland with no gardaí assigned to them. In any block of apartments in any area where kids are taking drugs on a regular basis, the Garda is not touching that because it simply does not have the resources to do so.

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