53 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleGabija GataveckaiteBBC News NI Dublin correspondent
Getty ImagesA group of Irish politicians has recommended the possession of all drugs for personal use to be decriminalised.
The Oireachtas Committee on Drugs published its final report on Wednesday after spending months meeting and interviewing witnesses about the future of Irish drug policy.
The committee was set up in the Irish parliament to consider the recommendations from the Citizens Assembly.
A Citizens Assembly on Drug Use in 2024, which was made up of people who get together to consider policies, had recommended that drugs be decriminalised for personal use.
The committee is made up of nine TDs and five senators (members of the upper and lower houses of the Irish parliament).
It said it agreed with the Citizens Assembly that the state should introduce a “comprehensive health-led response to possession of drugs for personal use”.
“The committee recommends decriminalisation of the person in relation to possession for personal use,” reads a recommendation.
Getty ImagesPoliticians on the committee believe that decriminalisation for personal use will “not likely” lead to an increase in the consumption of drugs.
However, they noted “a small” sample of jurisdictions where drugs were decriminalised that “reported an increase in drug consumption in public areas”.
It recommends by laws should be put in place by local councils similar to those restricting drinking alcohol in public areas.
“Therefore, the committee recommends that local authorities are required to discourage and reduce consumption in public areas, including through the use of local authority byelaws, similar to those governing the consumption of alcohol in public.”
Irish laws should also be updated to provide for “mobile consumption facilities and consumption sites”.
These will serve as a “harm-reduction measure for people who use drugs, but also to reduce the prevalence of street use”, according to the committee.
The Irish government should also run national prevention and harm-reduction campaigns on “sensible drug use that reduces harm and saves lives”.
The committee has also called on the Irish government to end short prison sentences for non violent drug-related offences and instead take a “health-led approach to helping drug users, particularly primary caregivers, to allow them to recover and provide adequate care for their dependent children”.
Getty ImagesThe committee also said “both drug use and drug policy can cause distinct harms” and said both should be addressed “as a matter of urgency”.
“The state should address these harms through a whole-of-government approach, incorporating health, education and justice-based strategies.”
The committee recommended “significantly improving funding for community-based services” as well as residential treatment.
The programme for government, agreed last year by the new coalition of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Independent TDs, does not go as far as promising to decriminalise drugs for personal use.
It said the government will “divert those found in possession of drugs for personal use to health services”.
However, the government will now consider the recommendation from the Oireachtas committee.
Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon, who chaired the committee, said of the report: “This is not a marginal adjustment. It is a recognition that criminalising people for their own drug use has not reduced harm, and that a different approach is both possible and overdue.”
The deputy chairperson, Fianna Fáil Senator Mary Fitzpatrick, said “cocaine, cannabis, prescription drugs and new substances are now present in every county – in villages, towns and cities alike”.
Republic of IrelandCriminal justice system
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