Max HeyraudFollowing the completion of the Citizens’ Assembly on Drug Use’s final meeting yesterday, the team has a number of recommendations which are centred around a more progressive approach to drug use in Ireland. The Citizens’ Assembly has proposed that the State shift from the status quo to a comprehensive health-led response to drugs, including decriminalisation for persons caught with drugs for personal use.
Following the conclusion of the Citizens’ Assembly on Drug Use’s final meeting yesterday, a summary of the suggestions has now been published on their website. The Assembly offered 36 proposals in total. Taken together, these proposals provide a clear and unmistakable message to the Government and the Oireachtas that Ireland has to take a far more progressive, ambitious, comprehensive, and cohesive approach to drug usage.
The Citizens’ Assembly has proposed that the State shift from the status quo to a comprehensive health-led response to drugs, including decriminalization for persons caught with drugs for personal use. The intricacies of how decriminalisation can be legislated for are a matter for the Oireachtas to decide after thorough legal analysis.
The Assembly has also made a series of recommendations about how drugs services should be better resourced and coordinated, and how drugs policy should be given greater priority by Government.
““There is no time to waste here. There has been much talk in recent years about the Portuguese approach to drugs. The Citizens’ Assembly has now recommended an Irish version of the Portuguese model. The Assembly’s final report will be submitted to the Oireachtas on schedule, by the end of this year. The ball will then be firmly in the court of the elected politicians. We will await their response with anticipation.” – Paul Reid [Chair of The Citizen Assembly]