Ireland would have to engage with 'Taliban and narco-terrorists' in order to legalise drugs
Pa Picture: Engage Have Countries Ireland Are Drugs 'would With To Where Produced'
Ireland would have to engage with "the Taliban and narco-terrorists” if the State was to legalise the use and supply of drugs, the Department of Justice has said.
The department’s top criminal policy chief, Ben Ryan, said Canada — which legalised the production and sale of cannabis in 2018 — is now re-examining the policy.
He also said the US state of Oregon, which decriminalised the possession for personal use of all drugs, is now going in the opposite direction.
Mr Ryan, assistant secretary and head of criminal justice policy, was speaking at the second hearing held by the Oireachtas Committee on Drugs Use, which is tasked with examining the recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use and making a report to the Government.
Mr Ryan was responding to comments by People Before Profit TD Gino Kelly, who said that decriminalisation — a key recommendation of the citizens' assembly — did not go far enough as it left control of the trade with criminal gangs.
The assistant secretary said that most of the drugs are manufactured and distributed by criminal gangs and that if Ireland was to take over some form of legalised supply it would have to engage with those countries where they are produced, as they are not grown everywhere.
“It’s not as simple as saying the State takes over production," said Mr Ryan.
Committee vice-chair Senator Lynn Ruane contradicted this and said hospitals use equivalent drugs, such as morphine, legally and that some countries have been operating legal heroin-prescription schemes for decades and are not engaging with the likes of Afghanistan or Colombia but with legal mechanisms.
She questioned Mr Ryan as to whether the department is objecting to the repeal of Section 3 (personal possession) of the Misuse of Drugs Act and the decriminalisation proposal from the citizens' assembly.
Mr Ryan said An Garda Síochána wants the retention of Section 3 as, through its use, they often find Section 15 (supply) offences.
He said that by removing Section 3 it will “greatly reduce the capacity to identify” the supply of drugs.
Ms Ruane said it is “wrong” that people in addiction should be used in this way to potentially discover other crimes.
The committee was questioning senior officials from the Department of Justice, Department of Health, and the HSE on current policies and the citizens' assembly.
Siobhán McCardle, assistant secretary of the Department of Health, said the Health Diversion Scheme, which was promised in 2019 and would give people caught with personal possession two opportunities of referral to a health intervention rather than being prosecuted, is undergoing consultation.
Mr Ryan said the citizens' assembly recommendation, of extensive and possibly unlimited opportunities of diversion, is “not yet government policy”.
He said the Health Diversion Scheme goes in the same direction, although “doesn’t go as far”.
He said that as the committee produced its report and the Government considered it, the scheme will have been introduced and that justice and health officials will review it after 12 months to see if there is potential to expand it.
Sinn Féin deputy Mark Ward said it would be beneficial if members could work with the department to ensure the committee’s “legal proposals are robust”.