Drug use more ‘a public health issue’ than ‘criminal justice matter’, Taoiseach tells Dáil

The Government will give “careful consideration” to any kind of legal change in relation to proposals put forward by the Citizens’ Assembly on Drug Use, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said.

Mr Varadkar said he will meet the chair of the Assembly Paul Reid on Thursday, who will present its report, which will subsequently be published.

Speaking during Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil on Wednesday, the Taoiseach said he believed that drug use and misuse by individuals should be seen primarily as “a public health issue and not a criminal justice matter”.

“That is very different from drug dealing, for example, and the production of illegal medicines and drugs, and I certainly think that shaming people and blaming people and criminalising people isn’t an effective policy and has largely been rejected by the public, particularly younger people,” he said.

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Mr Varadkar was responding to People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny, who said the overall sentiment of the Citizens’ Assembly on Drug Use was that the “status quo” of criminalisation of drug use does not work.

[ Dublin’s heroin epidemic: ‘A man died and his partner died a few weeks later. Grandparents were looking after kids’ ]

“This policy of criminalisation has been the State’s default position for the past six decades, that has stigmatised, marginalised and criminalised, not only individuals, but communities across the country,” Mr Kenny said.

“But now we have a better understanding of addiction and the reasons why people fall into addictions. It’s a very complex issue, we have a more holistic kind of approach as to why that happens.”

The Dublin Mid-West TD said there was “a generational chance” to change the current course.

“Ireland has one of the highest overdose drug related deaths in Europe,” he added. “In the north of Ireland, there is an explosion of people dying in relation to drug related deaths. So something needs to happen.”

Last October, the members of the Citizens’ Assembly on Drug Use voted to recommend ending the prosecution of those caught with illegal substances for personal use.

[ The Irish Times view on the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use: a valuable contribution to a necessary debate ]

Just 11 (17 per cent) of the 87 members voted in favour of retaining the current criminal approach to personal possession. Some 74 or 85 per cent of members believe it should not be retained as it stands.

A majority of members of the Assembly voted for a comprehensive health-led approach to the policy on illegal drug use.

Mr Varadkar also said while he had previously been “a sceptic of Citizens’ Assemblies”, he had become a fan of them over the past five to 10 years.

“We don’t always accept the recommendations nor do we have to, but we always consider them,” he said.

The Fine Gael leader also said he had spoken with gardaí who said they would rarely prosecute people for possession of drugs and when they do, it’s because they suspect they may have been dealing.

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