Decriminalise possession of drugs call by ICCL
A policy paper from the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has called for the removal of criminal penalties for possession of drugs.
The ICCL says that, while the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use recommended a move towards a health-centred approach to drugs policy, its recommendations had yet to be implemented.
It adds that, while the State promotes a health-led response, it continues to prosecute large numbers of people who use drugs, describing this as “a contradictory policy failure that harms some of the most vulnerable people in Irish society”.
Its paper calls for the decriminalising of the possession of drugs for personal use by repealing section 3 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977.
Tackling sale and supply
The ICCL argues that this would enable the State to focus resources on tackling the sale and supply of controlled drugs, in addition to investing in health, treatment, and social services.
The organisation’s paper states that domestic and international analysis of criminal-justice attempts to address personal drug use “overwhelmingly concludes” that criminalisation does not reduce drug use.
It also argues that prosecutions for “minor” drugs offences are contributing to overcrowding in Irish prisons.
Injecting facilities
The ICCL also calls for the expansion of the Misuse of Drugs Act (Supervised Injecting Facilities) 2017, which led to the opening of Ireland’s first medically supervised injecting facility in Dublin, to include mobile facilities.
Among the other recommendations is an amendment to the Medicinal Products (Prescription and Control of Supply) Regulations 2003 to make naloxone – an injectable or nasal drug that counteracts opioid overdoses – available over the counter.
The paper says that the Government has a “unique opportunity” to redirect drugs policy this year, as the Joint Committee on Drugs Use is due to make a series of recommendations based on the Citizens’ Assembly, while the Department of Health is developing a new national drugs strategy.
The ICCL stresses that decriminalisation is not the same as legalisation, adding that it its paper does not discuss or advocate for the legalisation of controlled substances.