Nessa Cosgrove (Labour)

My Labour Party colleagues in the Dáil introduced a motion today calling for the State to urgently adopt a well-overdue compassionate and health-led public approach to drug use. While the Government has promised over the years to pursue a health-led approach, it has failed to put this into effect. All over our country, in small villages, small towns and cities, people are struggling with problem drug use and addiction. They need support and not to be cast into the throws of the criminal justice system. We all know friends and members of families who are affected by addiction. Nobody could argue that the current policy on drugs is working. It is time we took problem drug use out of the courts and offered support to people who need it. Criminalising and stigmatising people in addiction leads to a system that undermines and dehumanises those who need our support, care and compassion. It is time to change it. I went into the Chamber to watch the debate and the Minister said she would support the motion. It recalls the Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use and the ongoing work of the Joint Committee on Drugs Use, both of which have recognised that criminalisation is not working. Other countries all across Europe have shown us the direction and that progressive drugs policies can work. As we know, Portugal took the brave step 20 years ago to decriminalise personal possession, which resulted in fewer deaths, more people in treatment and overall rates of drug use falling below the EU average. Portugal chooses health over punishment and we need to adopt the same approach here. This evidence of what Portugal has done shows us it works. Drug use in Ireland is changing. Cocaine, for example, is now the most common drug addiction treated in Ireland, accounting for 40% of all treatment cases in 2024, and crack cocaine is rife in our cities.It is not okay that we continue to throw young people into the criminal justice system. The message behind the Labour Party's drug motion is simple - take drug use out of the courts and replace an ethos of crime and punishment with one of health and humanity. This will free up the courts, free up Garda time so that gardaí can deal with serious crime like violent crime, and free up resources so that services treating young people and people struggling with addiction on the ground receive multi-annual funding and supported front-line services.

The use of banned drugs is spread fairly evenly across all sectors of society. In contrast, drug law enforcement targets poor and disadvantaged users and our prisons are full of young people from poor and disadvantaged communities caught up in the illegal drug trade. Their drugs conviction condemns them to a lifetime of difficulty gaining employment, housing and insurance and with community participation, relationships and travel. Some 70% of the State's prison population report having addiction issues. The figure is 85% of women, which indicates they should not be in prison. Drug reform means no one is criminalised and people are less likely to overdose, less likely to be poisoned by contaminants and more likely to seek help, if needed. Among so many young people, addiction presents a problem but underlying issues that need to be addressed often precede drug use. These include trauma, sexual abuse, physical abuse, exclusion from school, not being looked after, incarceration, poverty and neglect - I could go on. Our communities deserve better. Young people deserve better. I hope the motion by my colleagues in the Dáil will be supported.