Colette Kelleher (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Sinn Féin. I welcome the opportunity to speak in support of this enlightened, humane, informed, realistic and practical Bill introduced by Senators Ruane and Ó Ríordáin. The purpose of the Bill is to achieve decriminalisation. Claims that it is about legalising drugs are misleading and a red herring and I am disappointed that Senators Reilly, McFadden and Byrne spoke in those terms. While the legalisation of drugs could be a topic for discussion on another day, this Bill is not about legalisation. I am pleased the debate will adjourn and the Bill will be re-introduced soon after the publication of the national drugs strategy.

The Bill faces up to the fact that people, including perhaps current and former Members of the House, use drugs. Members may even use them tonight and we need to face reality. It faces up to the fact that people have deep addictions and that prohibition and abstention as an approach to drug use and addiction - the "Just Say No" approach - simply does not work. We only have to walk around Dublin, Cork or any country town, village or community to realise that the war on drugs, as Senator Ó Ríordáin stated, was well and truly lost everywhere a long time ago. If we are honest, we will know this is true from families and friends, and that it is especially true of all those who have died as a result of addictions and lived or are living miserable, partial lives. Efforts and money have been wasted on futile endeavours.

The Bill faces up to the fact that criminalising people who use drugs or have addictions is unkind and does not work. It faces up to the fact that criminalising people for possession of small amounts of controlled drugs for personal reasons does not deter them from potentially harmful drug taking, help them with their addictions or reduce harm, but damages their lives and life chances, drawing them into rather than away from the criminal justice system.

There is a vast body of evidence and plenty of facts to support the provisions of the Bill and Senators will have heard this evidence during the debate. I speak in favour of the Bill informed and influenced by the facts on decriminalisation and harm reduction. I will use my time to speak through the lens of people I know or, sadly, once knew. I have in mind, for example, a man I knew well through Cork Simon Community, a marathon runner, poet and painter who was also a survivor of dreadful abuse in an industrial school and had drug and alcohol addictions. I remember, when I met this man, that he took me aside and said, "Colette, girl, sleeping rough was heaven after sleeping in fear of them coming after you at night." Drugs and alcohol masked his pain of abuse and trauma. I would go so far as to say that deep addictions are often driven by deep trauma.

In advocating for this Bill, I also remember a young woman who died on Christmas Day from a drug overdose. I am thinking of the woman I knew who died on the streets of Cork one dreadful Christmas week and whose daughter, whom I meet on the streets of Cork, also has deep addictions. I once read that trauma not transformed is trauma transferred and it struck a chord. I also have in mind a young woman, a school friend of my daughter, who was abused and neglected until the age of four years when she was eventually adopted. She is now parted from her own little girl and uses drugs to ease her pain. I think of the young man I know who lost his job because he was found in possession of a very small amount of controlled drugs. Since his conviction, he has drifted, lost confidence and lost his way. I think of a school friend of mine, a fellow Capricorn whose birthday was in December. My birthday is in January and we used to go to each other's birthday parties. I think of a woman whose son is the very same age as my son and who died as a result of an accidental overdose.

Criminalisation of the possession of a small amount of drugs for personal use caused nothing but harm to the people I mentioned and does nothing for the many people with addictions who will use drugs today or tomorrow. I know from my life and work that people in deep addiction are not put off drug taking, often harmful and fatal, because drug possession is illegal. Criminalisation does not bring health care, housing, clean needles, counselling, hope of job prospects or something to live for. It brings nothing. It wastes the time of the Garda and criminal justice system and breaks the hearts of families who are desperate for help for the people they love. It breaks the spirit of those who are working against the tide, including community workers, the general practitioners to whom Senator Norris referred and others who are frustrated by the futility of criminalisation. The effects of criminalisation are a chronic lack of the range and depth of supports needed by people who use drugs and have addictions. They do not have accessible supports, provided with kindness and judgment when and where they are needed. If an addict decides to get clean tomorrow, it may well be too late three weeks later because he or she needs to be able to access the help he or she needs immediately.

The Bill, if passed, would signal a transformation in how we face up to the realities of drug use and addiction. The measures proposed would save and transform lives.The establishment of an activist, kind, skilled non-judgmental and holistic drug dissuasion service, as this Bill proposes, would save and would transform lives. I urge the Minister of State to face up to the realities of Ireland and the realities of drug use and addictions, to be politically brave and to do what she knows to be right. Instead of condemning and criminalising people who are in trauma and in trouble we need to put our efforts to good and useful effect to help them. We need to support and not stigmatise people who are often in deep trauma and to back up this grown-up Bill for a grown-up Ireland. I thank Senators Ruane and Ó Ríordáin and all the civil society organisations involved, including the people who influenced the Senators and whose lives inspired and encouraged them to bring this enlightened, humane, informed, realistic and practical Bill to the Seanad.