Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. I welcome the legislation and I commend Senator Ó Ríordáin for pushing it forward. It is a first step in moving away from treating addiction as a criminal matter and towards treating it as a public health issue. The most recent data available from the national drugs-related death index show that almost two people died each day in 2004 because of poisoning, trauma or medical causes linked to drug use or misuse. Almost 700 people died 2014 and a similar number was reported in 2013. We can deduce, therefore, that two people die each day, which is an epidemic.

The aims of injecting centres are to reduce the acute risk of disease transmission through unhygienic injection, to prevent drug-related overdoses and deaths and to connect high risk drug users with addiction treatment and other relevant health and social services. These aims are all health related. Addiction is a health issue, not a criminal issue. I have nothing but compassion for those who are suffering due to drugs. I will return to this point later. If ours is to be a society that helps and is all-encompassing for people who suffer in this way, we should provide a health-based response to the drug problem, not a judgment-based criminal response. Is this legislation good for the overwhelming majority of ordinary Josephine and Joe Soaps who are not drug addicts? I believe it is.

First, I will address the positive impact these centres will have on the families of addicts. Having an addict in the family can be agonising. There is constant anxiety and worry about the person's health, well-being, estrangement, behaviour and his or her impact on other family members. The centres will assist in alleviating some of this worry. If addicts are getting access to services that will protect their physical health and also create a starting point for recovery for them, their families will give a small sigh of relief. Families should not have to carry the worry of an addict alone. If we move towards a health-based response, as this legislation does, we are showing them that we view their family member as somebody who deserves help, rather than somebody they must cover up for and carry alone in isolation and embarrassment.

Second, it is a public health issue to have drug users injecting in public places. We all experience rightful disgust when needles are left in places such as parks and schools where they could infect the public and children.At least four children I know of have needed health monitoring and tests after playing with blood-filled syringes and needles, thinking they were toys because they had seen them so often. They have had to undergo in-depth six-month blood tests for HIV, hepatitis C and other infections.

The drug injection centres would address this very serious problem and would also treat addicts with the same compassion with which we treat everybody else who has an illness. I heard earlier, at the briefing held by Senator Ó Ríordáin, that in Sydney, Australia, there was a huge reduction in the cost and impact of public drug use once a supervised injection centre was opened. We are not being pioneers here and we know this approach works.

I said in my opening remarks that I believe the movement towards treating drugs as a health problem should be welcomed. In my time as a psychiatric nurse, I have had vast experience of people who suffer both a mental health issue and an addiction issue. In fact, the two are closely linked. I am hosting two events in my constituency in the coming months on the treatment of dual diagnosis which will shed light on the link between mental ill health and drug addiction. A study by the UK Department of Health put the figures at 75% of users of drug services and 85% of users of alcohol services who also experienced mental health problems. The link between addiction and mental health illness is very real and very important, and it is not something we can ignore. There is a lot of shame, distrust and stigma around both mental illness and addiction. If these centres can be compassionate, non-judgmental places, then maybe we can break through this distrust, shame and stigma, revolutionise the treatment of dual diagnosis and give people hope.

I have one reservation about the legislation and it follows from a discussion I had with a worker in my local area. As the Minister of State knows, the area of Rialto has been destroyed in parts by generational drug addiction. It is coming around now but workers on the ground have questions in regard to trust and how gardaí will engage with these centres. Under section 11 of the legislation, gardaí are permitted to be on the premises without a warrant for the detection of offences other than those to supply under section 10. Presumably this is to prevent persons dealing on site or other offences. However, as we know, these centres will be staffed by a mixture of social care personnel. As is best practice in other projects, the worker from my constituency believes it should be up to the centre staff to engage gardaí if needed. Having a situation where gardaí can drop in and keep an eye on people will deter many users from accessing the centre. In this worker's words, what is the point of the service then?

Supervised injection centres are not the be-all and end-all of treating drug addiction but they are a welcome first step towards treating addiction as a public health issue. I am encouraged to hear there will also be counselling and intervention services. However, I believe these centres need consistent reviewing and monitoring, particularly after the pilot but also into the future, to ensure it is not a case of, "There you are. There's your centre. Be quiet. Inject in peace and leave us alone, and we will all just forget about each other." Instead, these centres should be used as a piece of the puzzle that is needed to treat addiction and, hopefully, we can move forward to become communities that do not suffer at the hand of this disease and the stigma around it. I look forward to the passage of the Bill through the Seanad. Agreeing on locations is another job of work for public representatives and local authorities but let us get this legislation through as a starting point.