LIMERICK Labour TD Conor Sheehan and MEP Aodhán Ó Ríordáin will host a public meeting today on decriminalisation of the drug user and the need to take a health led approach to the drugs crisis in Limerick.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, Limerick Labour TD Conor Sheehan said that “the drugs crisis has never been as severe as it is in Limerick now”.
“There are communities in this city that have been gripped by crack cocaine particularly an evil insidious drug.”
Deputy Sheehan said “we need a step change in how we treat people with addiction in this country. We need to move away from criminalising people caught using small amounts of drugs for personal consumption and move to a health led approach to the drugs crisis.”
“It is beyond time that we took the drugs crisis out of the courts. Criminalising, shaming, and stigmatising people in addiction is dehumanising and does not work.”
According to Deputy Sheehan, decriminalising drug use would put the user at the heart of drug policy. He believes that a community-based, health-led approach would target the adverse health, social, and economic consequences of drug use.
“This does not mean the legalisation of drugs, but the decriminalisation of the user to address overdoses and disease transmission rates and a commitment to a user centred, evidence-based recovery programme,” he added.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, Labour MEP and former Drugs Minister Aodhán Ó Ríordáin said that “prosecuting ordinary people for possessing small amounts of illicit drugs is extremely expensive … The war on drugs has failed. Prohibition has failed. But there are other approaches that work.”
“In 2000, Portugal decriminalised drugs, and since then the country has addressed drug use through the lens of their public health system rather than their criminal justice system.
“Decriminalisation is not the same thing as legalisation. Instead of going to court, people found with less than a 10-day supply are brought before a panel that includes social workers, health workers and judges. If they are addicted to the drug in question, they are offered help. The Portuguese government invested heavily in both rehabilitation and prevention. Today, Portugal has among the lowest rates of drug-related death in Europe, while Ireland has among the highest. Our policy of is failing,” he claimed.
The meeting will take place at the Castletroy Park Hotel from 7pm on Monday September 15.
