Just as lawyers are said never to ask a question they don’t already know the answer to, the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use had a good idea before it started what kind of findings the Government wanted it to make.
Its ultimate recommendation in favour of pivoting policy toward a health-led approach to the possession of illicit drugs for personal use turns out to be well aligned with the views of Cabinet members.
Yet, the road it took before calling in a final report for the decriminalisation – but not the legalisation – of all drugs was a long one, reached after hours of presentations and sometimes heated debate among the 99 members of the assembly, chaired by former HSE boss Paul Reid.
The group came within one vote of recommending the legalisation of cannabis, a call that might have led the Government to lose a little sleep – though not too much given the temper of the times.
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While the assembly calls for a health-led approach to the issue, its findings are not led by the views of many health leaders who presented at its meetings. The chief medical officer, senior officials in the Department of Health and individual doctors all voiced reservations about liberalising drug laws, but their presumably evidence-led voices cut little ice with assembly members.
The opposition of An Garda Síochána and the Department of Justice, and their scepticism around results from other countries that have liberalised drug laws, was also brushed aside. Portugal and Austria were cited in the final report for their combined use of health diversion, decriminalisation and dissuasive sanctions to tackle drug use.
The report recommends greater supports for marginalised communities that suffer most from drug abuse, more funding, a greater focus on prevention and the expansion of harm reduction measures, all noble objectives that have been neglected or slow-walked for years.
It recommends that supply reduction continue to be a priority, but has nothing to say on how this can be achieved. Given Ireland’s status as a world leader for criminal drug gangs, it is hard to see the supply tap being turned off very soon. Should the litmus test for this report not have been that its implementation would result in fewer harmful drugs being taken by fewer people?
The undeniable plight of many drugs users and their families and communities is foregrounded in the report, after the, often powerful, testimony given to the assembly by those most affected. It was clear at the launch of the report in Dublin Castle on Thursday that it carries the support of the drug treatment community, who are impatient for its recommendations to be implemented.
The fine detail of how decriminalisation would work has been left to Government. Is a legal change required to permit possession of drugs to be reclassified as an “administrative” offence? How many times can a person be diverted to health interventions? What about repeat offenders? Should some drugs – eg, heroin – be treated differently?
“Anyone involved in drug-dealing or selling should face the full rigours of the law,” Government chief whip Hildegarde Naughton told the launch, “but nothing is served by jailing a person in addiction caught with drugs for their own personal use”.
She promised a special committee would be set up to implement the assembly’s recommendations “as soon as possible”. An audit is under way to find where the gaps in fundings are, she said, while the “complexities” of health diversion programmes will be investigated.
Though the fair wind behind the proposed changes is not in doubt, many other well-received reports have been left to gather dust on the shelf. Telling here will be whether the Government expedites changes in advance of the general election, or leaves it to its successors to properly grasp the nettle of drug reform.
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