Richard Branson urges change of attitude on drugs

British businessman Richard Branson has said the decriminalisation of drugs in Ireland would lead to a sea change in public attitudes on a similar scale as that which followed the same sex-marriage referendum.

Mr Branson, speaking at an event organised by the Citywide Drugs Crisis Campaign in Dublin at the weekend, said the abolition of criminal penalties for drugs offences would become a “non-issue” for the public once it takes place.

“There was a big debate here about gay marriage,” he said. “It passed and now it is a non-issue here. In countries where decriminalisation happened, it is now a non-issue in those places. If it is decriminalised here, it will become a non-issue.

“Politicians should be brave and get this thing pushed through,” Mr Branson, who is a member of the Global Commission on Drugs, told a crowd of approximately 50 people. “When it is, it will be there forever and a lot of misery will be lifted.”

Minister of State with responsibility for drugs Aodhan O’Riordain said he favoured the decriminalisation of drugs and the expungement of past criminal convictions for drugs offences.

“I would hope we can [expunge convictions],” he said. “I don’t see the point in a heroin user being viewed as a criminal and being stopped from travelling to America. I hope it would be the natural progression.”

Ecstasy

Mr O Riordain also said he had “an open mind” in relation to “pill testing”, which is a harm reduction service that involves pills such as ecstasy undergoing tests for dangerous contaminants before consumption. “We need to have a conversation around these issues,” he said.

“We can change legislation and that’s what I want to do - and be part of that - but we have to change the way we view addiction and stop calling people names because they have an addiction problem.

“The debate is being framed in a way that is completely dishonest, and has been for a long time. We have dehumanised people who have a medical need. We call them names and we criminalise them. It doesn’t get us anywhere.”

Mr O’Riordain said the Portuguese model, where drug addiction is treated as a health issue rather than a criminal one, “needs to happen in Ireland” and that the “just say no” policy was a “political cop out”.

Social justice campaigner Peter McVerry said there was“huge ignorance” among the public in relation to the use of drugs.

“The context in which drugs are talked about in Ireland is one of fear,” he said. “Parents believe that if their child takes drugs, they will wind up dead in an alleyway with a needle in their arm.

“There is a huge ignorance about drugs among the public that I think has to be addressed. We’ve got to educate the public about the use of drugs before we can move to decriminalisation.”