Results 1-20 of 24 for drugs segment:8812809

Misuse of Drugs (Cannabis Regulation) Bill 2022: Second Stage [Private Members] (31 Jan 2024)

Violet-Anne Wynne: I commend the Bill brought forward by Deputy Gino Kenny. It is extremely timely considering the Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use launched its report and recommendations last week. It was a positive step that the Government established the assembly. I welcome that an Oireachtas select committee will be set up to look at its recommendations. I have expressed my interest in sitting on the...

Misuse of Drugs (Cannabis Regulation) Bill 2022: Second Stage [Private Members] (31 Jan 2024)

Niall Collins: I thank Members for their contributions to this discussion on drugs policy and acknowledge their interest in and commitment to this issue. The Government is fully committed to a health-led approach to drug use. We believe people with problematic drug and alcohol use should be treated with compassion and care. The citizens' assembly made 36 recommendations, which will next be considered...

Misuse of Drugs (Cannabis Regulation) Bill 2022: Second Stage [Private Members] (31 Jan 2024)

Gino Kenny: ...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...

Misuse of Drugs (Cannabis Regulation) Bill 2022: Second Stage [Private Members] (31 Jan 2024)

Danny Healy-Rae: I am glad to get the opportunity to say a few words on this legislation. I welcome the debate but, sadly, I cannot support the Bill. I worry so much about the evidence regarding drugs and what they are doing to youngsters, lovely young boys and girls, and how families are broken up and people finish up in bad health. We can see that cannabis use has been on the rise for nearly two decades....

Misuse of Drugs (Cannabis Regulation) Bill 2022: Second Stage [Private Members] (31 Jan 2024)

Richard O'Donoghue: ...or other medical professional to improve the quality of life of people experiencing chronic pain and suffering. I am not in favour of making it legal for anyone to walk around with this drug. I am a father. If one of my children, including as an adult, needed cannabis to address an issue, even if it was a terminal illness, I would ask a medical professional to prescribe something to...

Misuse of Drugs (Cannabis Regulation) Bill 2022: Second Stage [Private Members] (31 Jan 2024)

Thomas Pringle: I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on the Misuse of Drugs (Cannabis Regulation) Bill 2022. I thank Deputy Gino Kenny and People Before Profit for bringing forward this legislation. I fully support this Bill, which will decriminalise the possession of small amounts of cannabis for personal use. Treating the possession of small amounts of cannabis as an offence is nonsensical and...

Misuse of Drugs (Cannabis Regulation) Bill 2022: Second Stage [Private Members] (31 Jan 2024)

Joan Collins: I thank Deputy Gino Kenny and People Before Profit for introducing the Misuse of Drugs (Cannabis Regulation) Bill 2022. I welcome this Bill and I will be supporting it. I also welcome the Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use report released last week. The citizens' assembly report has given the Government a mandate to move this country's national drug policy away from a focus on punishment and...

Misuse of Drugs (Cannabis Regulation) Bill 2022: Second Stage [Private Members] (31 Jan 2024)

Matt Shanahan: ...not going to take eight minutes but I will lay out some points. First, I pay tribute to Deputy Kenny. He has been the foremost voice in the Chamber since his arrival here in looking for a revised drug strategy from the Government. I would not question in anyway his bona fides, which stand large and tall, regarding his concern for those who have fallen into addiction and the need for...

Misuse of Drugs (Cannabis Regulation) Bill 2022: Second Stage [Private Members] (31 Jan 2024)

Michael Collins: The proposed Bill seeks to modify the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977, allowing adults legally to possess a specified amount of cannabis or cannabis resin for personal use. This initiative to amend the law commenced over a year ago and there are no legal obstacles to the amendment. In Ireland, drug use has been on the rise since data collection began nearly two decades ago. Cannabis use...

Misuse of Drugs (Cannabis Regulation) Bill 2022: Second Stage [Private Members] (31 Jan 2024)

Carol Nolan: ...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...

Misuse of Drugs (Cannabis Regulation) Bill 2022: Second Stage [Private Members] (31 Jan 2024)

Gary Gannon: ...on the issue and the heart he brings to it. It is incredibly welcome. The Social Democrats will support the Bill. For many years, the Social Democrats have favoured a health-based approach to drugs. That is why we believe a policy of decriminalisation should be pursued in respect of the possession of drugs for personal use. It was welcome that the report of the Citizens’...

Misuse of Drugs (Cannabis Regulation) Bill 2022: Second Stage [Private Members] (31 Jan 2024)

Paul Donnelly: I also thank Deputy Gino Kenny for bringing forward this Bill. I know I have said this before, but it needs to be said again and again that the so-called war on drugs has failed utterly to achieve its objectives and has caused untold damage to our communities. How do we know? It is because we see it on our streets and in our communities, pubs and clubs. In fact, pretty much anywhere we go...

Misuse of Drugs (Cannabis Regulation) Bill 2022: Second Stage [Private Members] (31 Jan 2024)

Mark Ward: ...have seen at first-hand how difficult it is for the services I have managed and worked in to access the funding our communities vitally need. There is also a narrative that cannabis is a harmless drug with little or no short-term consequences. In one drug service I managed, which was visited by Deputy Ó Ríordáin when he was the Minister of State with responsibility for...

Misuse of Drugs (Cannabis Regulation) Bill 2022: Second Stage [Private Members] (31 Jan 2024)

Ruairi Ó Murchú: It is fair to say that we have at least agreement on one issue, which is that the war on drugs has been an abject failure. I recall that there was a period in Dundalk a couple of years ago when, following cuts to Garda funding, we did not have a drug squad and then the drug squad was suddenly in operation again. In fairness, no one is going to have a problem when action is taken against...

Misuse of Drugs (Cannabis Regulation) Bill 2022: Second Stage [Private Members] (31 Jan 2024)

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin: .... I am at this for approximately ten years. Ten years ago I was sat down by Anna Quigley of CityWide, who told me what decriminalisation meant. She said it is not about the decriminalisation of drugs as much as it is about the decriminalisation of people. This debate is really about people more than it is about drugs. For the record, we support this Bill. The Labour Party believes in...

Misuse of Drugs (Cannabis Regulation) Bill 2022: Second Stage [Private Members] (31 Jan 2024)

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire: ...area. My colleagues, Deputies Gould and Ward, have undertaken extensive work in the fields of mental health, rehabilitation and the treatment of addiction. We want to see a health-led approach to drug addiction. It serves no one, neither the individual who is caught in addiction or society itself, to treat this person as a criminal. The knock-on effects this has include restricting an...

Misuse of Drugs (Cannabis Regulation) Bill 2022: Second Stage [Private Members] (31 Jan 2024)

Martin Browne: I thank Deputy Gino Kenny for bringing this Bill forward. Progressive Bills enable us to have a debate in which we consider drug use and possession of various kinds in our society are to be welcomed. It is clear that the current response to drug use and drug possession needs reform. How that reform is approached and structured is complex and has a fundamental importance from health,...

Misuse of Drugs (Cannabis Regulation) Bill 2022: Second Stage [Private Members] (31 Jan 2024)

Pa Daly: I thank People Before Profit for introducing this Bill. Clearly, a new way is needed for the State’s drug policy. A report of the justice committee last year recommended a policy of decriminalisation be pursued in line with emerging international best practice in respect of the possession of drugs for personal consumption through appropriate legislative reform in favour of a...

Misuse of Drugs (Cannabis Regulation) Bill 2022: Second Stage [Private Members] (31 Jan 2024)

Mick Barry: ...gives the House an idea of what we are talking about. I will repeat a point raised in the debate earlier, which is that in 2022, there were 12,136 recorded offences for possession of an illicit drug for personal use, which constituted 70% of all drug offences. For a large number of those offences which related to cannabis possession, let us think a little bit about what has happened...

Misuse of Drugs (Cannabis Regulation) Bill 2022: Second Stage [Private Members] (31 Jan 2024)

Richard Boyd Barrett: ...is especially the case given the citizens' assembly has made the recommendations. On the wider issue, we are clear about this and straight up. We believe in the legalisation and regulation of drugs because we think criminalisation has failed disastrously. It has done far more damage to our society than would legalising and regulating drugs properly, and it is doing it every day. It...