Letters

Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use

A time for fresh thinking

Wed Oct 04 2023 - 00:14

Sir, – The letter from Peter Reynolds (October 3rd) captures how we as a country deal with issues that we all should be concerned about.

Drug use is widespread in our country and our elected public representatives owe it to those concerned about our future, not least our democracy, to look beyond the findings of this assembly comprised of 99 people from a jurisdiction with a population of five million. – Yours, etc,

ALICE LEAHY,

Director of Services

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Alice Leahy Trust,

Dublin 8.

Sir, – It is really encouraging to hear that the Citizens’ Assembly is set to recommend a “liberalisation” of drug laws (“Citizens’ assembly set to call for liberalisation of drugs laws”, News, October 3rd). Personally, I would hope that they would consider decriminalising all drugs and legalising cannabis.

After watching all of the citizens’ assembly meetings livestreamed, it is impressive to me that the members are set to recommend liberalisation, despite a vast amount of presentations that supported the status quo. Anyone following the assembly in detail would know that there was palpable anger in a recent meeting when members heard from gardaí and establishment voices who basically told them that the current system was working and all that was needed was funding. This made a mockery of all previous meetings and some of the language used to describe drug users was shocking. The arrogance of the presentations made during this meeting was astounding and it was great to see that the members saw through it. The fact that the members are so open to change despite the views of the presentations and speakers speaks volumes.

People will take drugs. They always have and they always will. A statistic presented in the assembly was that 90 per cent of drug users do not suffer negative consequences but 10 per cent will. People in disadvantaged areas suffer more harms, but drug taking is equal across social strata.

Do we continue to criminalise someone for making a personal choice? Do we continue to let unregulated and uncontrolled substances be freely available to teens? Do we continue to let people die on the streets?

As much as the Garda Síochána like to play it down, people are still sent to court for possession of cannabis. This is insane when it is legal in so many other jurisdictions – everybody knows someone who consumes it – and it is a safer drug than alcohol. Nobody has ever died from consuming too much cannabis. Yet we are allowing people to have their opportunities limited by convictions for possession of this relatively safe (not harmless) plant.

Possession charges are a waste of money, Garda resources, and the time of everyone involved. Prisons are full of drugs, the streets are full of drugs. And does anyone think that is going to change? It won’t, despite the bravado about the seizure last week. The seizures increase yet the supply is constant. Illegal drugs are freely available to anyone who wants them. All legalisation does is make these drugs safer. The evidence is there on how to actually save lives, yet the Government is content to ignore it and let people die on the streets.

As the members of the assembly know, a massive proportion of the harms of drugs are not caused by the drug itself but by its unregulated and uncontrolled status. This is especially true for the most dangerous of drugs, such as heroin. These laws are killing people and nobody really cares. It’s about time we start to really be honest about this reality.

We can never tackle drug use if we don’t allow people to be honest about drug use. Criminalising people just makes them try to hide it until they can’t.

Let’s finally take this issue out of the dark and try to get some control over it as a society. – Yours, etc,

AOIFE HEGARTY,

Macroom,

Cork.