James Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Bill because we have a serious issue with prescribed drugs being made available on the street and the trade in them. It is an ever-increasing problem. The point made by the two previous speakers on the amendments they have put forward are points that are very well made. The key here for many people who are addicted is to access treatment for addiction and that is an issue that remains to be addressed. Coincidentally, when I was with President Michael D. Higgins in Portugal last year, I had the pleasure of speaking with the Minister who brought in this system into Portugal. The measure is working very well and I believe it is something we should examine and introduce. The system changes the offence to an administrative offence rather have a criminal one. I agree with previous speakers who spoke about the implications for a person who is caught, in his or her youth, with a joint or a couple of tablets for his or her own use and is criminalised and has a record for the remainder of his or her life, with all that implies from the point of view of job prospects and further training abroad. That is clearly wrong and society has moved on. What we want to do is to protect people from drug abuse and a system such as that introduced by the Portuguese should be brought in here. It may need to be tweaked from the Irish perspective but I know that the Minister intends to examine that in the future and to bring in a more comprehensive legislation to address that issue.

I do not believe it is acceptable to supply others with drugs to maintain one's habit. That person is a pusher, regardless of what the motivation is. It is an entirely different matter if one is addicted and one is caught with a small quantum.

I could not agree more that, in many instances, it is in areas of deprivation and marginalisation that people turn to drugs. This benzodiazepine prescribing goes back the time when much of the inner city was moved out to the outer rounds of Dublin which, on the face of it, looked wonderful in that there was a house with a garden. However, the aunty was not down the road anymore, the brother was not up the street anymore and the infrastructure was not there to support families in the extended family way people had been used to up to then. When people suffered frustrations, distress and anxiety, tablets became the cure and sadly that became a really big problem. Now we have more enlightened ways, through counselling, of dealing with issues like this but the bottom line is that we need to control these drugs. They have become a major problem. I know from talking to people that very often the source of the tablets is a well-meaning older person who gets them from the doctor but who allows somebody younger to take them off his or her hands.

I support the Bill as it is and look forward to the Minister bringing forward more comprehensive legislation in the future to address this area, the issue of the places in which to inject and other supports for addicts.