Cormac O'Keeffe: Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use has been given a mammoth task 

A jobs fair was held on Thursday just gone. One position involves producing “craft quality cannabis” for Atlantic Cultivation, a manufacturer and retailer based in Newfoundland, Canada.

South of the border, the previous week, the Chicago Cubs became the first major league baseball team to partner with a cannabis company.

Down in Florida, cannabis firm Green Thumb Industries is seeking a licence to open a retail outlet adjacent to Circle K petrol stations. The deal, yet to be approved, would allow motorists to fill up on gas and weed at the same time.

These developments may seem far-fetched to Irish eyes, but they could possibly be a sign of things to come in the not-too-distant future if the twin pressures of societal change and commercial interests gather momentum.

Today, the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use gathers for the first time, with the challenging task of identifying the nature and scale of the drugs problem and the best way ahead.

While the big policy issues of decriminalisation and legalisation are dominating the minds of campaigners, the assembly has a whole host of other issues to grapple with.

And it has been given a very tight timeframe to do so.

PROCESS

The idea for the assembly was included in the Programme for Government at the behest of the Green Party.

Both the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Tánaiste Micheál Martin have indicated their support for changes in the current approach, with Mr Martin most recently proclaiming he was in favour of decriminalisation, but had concerns about legalisation.

Such a clear statement of opinion before the assembly had even begun its work might strike some people as a bit odd but it didn’t seem to cause any ruffles.

Some pro-regulation campaigners did issue some concerns at the “establishment” set-up of the assembly, with former HSE head Paul Reid assigned as chairman.

Advisory Support Group

Criticisms were also levelled at the process in appointing members of the assembly’s expert advisors, known as the Advisory Support Group.

The members are:

• Jo-Hanna Ivers, associate professor in addictions, School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin;
• Philly McMahon, former GAA star, whose brother, John, died from a drugs overdose;
• Mary Cannon, professor of psychiatric epidemiology and youth mental health, RCSI, and consultant psychiatrist;
• Joe O’Neill, chairman of the Western Region Drugs and Alcohol Task Force;
• Ann Ryan, retired judge of the District Court;
• Brian Galvin, programme manager for drug and alcohol research, Health Research Board;
• John Garry, professor of political behaviour, Queen’s University Belfast. 

Prof Ivers and Prof Cannon would be well known, and respected, within academic and drug policy circles, and Mr Galvin of the HRB has access to essential domestic and international drug information and data.

Judge Ryan has crucial legal knowledge at district court level where the bulk of drug cases are heard.

Mr O’Neill is from the regional task forces while Mr McMahon was picked as a representative for people affected by drugs.

Prof Garry has sat on a number of previous assemblies.

Some pro-cannabis regulation campaigners strongly criticised Prof Cannon’s inclusion given her views, including on social media, about the negative health consequences of cannabis.

Under assembly rules the Advisory Support Group supports the chairman in developing the work programme and “identify options for specialists, experts, stakeholder groups”.

The body can also provide expertise for members and may even formally present to them – as some are doing this weekend.

OMISSIONS

While the expertise of the legal world is present on the group — with Judge Ryan — one glaring omission is the lack of policing expertise.

Although a serving garda may not be appropriate, there are many retired senior gardaí, including numerous experienced officers with knowledge of drugs and organised crime, who are available.

In addition, there is no specialist criminologist who has done extensive work on the drugs trade and policing.

While Mr O’Neill is on the committee, there is no one from a frontline community drug or youth project.

Previous assemblies also had a ‘legal advisory panel’ as well as an expert group, but one has not been set up for this assembly.

A spokesperson for the Assembly said the advisory group comprises an “experienced and diverse group”.

While Judge Ryan is on it, the lack of other domestic legal experts — whether solicitors, former directors of public prosecutions, or experts on policing or international legal models — could prove to be an issue.

On the plus side, the assembly announced on Thursday that a “Lived Experiences Group” has been set up, involving three members of the Advisory Group (Mr McMahon, Judge Ryan, and Prof Ivers).

Other members are: 

• Andy O’Hara of drug users’ group UISCE; 
• Shannon Connors, a member of the Travelling Community and a mother with experience of drugs use; 
• Fionn Sexton-Connolly, a student in the University of Galway;
• Karl Ducque, an outreach worker with Targeted Response with Youth (TRY) programme, which is now part of the Solas Project.

A disadvantage of assemblies is that they do not conduct or commission research themselves or, it seems, go on overseas site visits to get first-hand experience.

The Assembly spokesperson told the Irish Examiner: “It is not normally the case that a Citizens’ Assembly commissions independent research, rather it invites in expert presenters to set out the available existing research on relevant matters.”

On overseas site visits, the spokesperson said: “A field trip abroad is not planned as part of the work programme.

“During the course of this Assembly, speakers from Ireland and abroad will present and share their experience from other countries.”

Furthermore, visits by some members to community and voluntary projects in local areas most affected by drugs and gangs would provide a greater insight than having representatives of those groups coming to the assembly.

MAMMOTH JOB

The purpose of the citizens’ assembly, comprised of 99 people randomly chosen from the general public and the chairman, is “to consider the legislative, policy and operational changes Ireland could make to significantly reduce the harmful impacts of illicit drugs on individuals, families, communities and wider Irish society”.

It is asked to take into consideration “the lived experience of people impacted by drugs use, as well as their families and communities, and to look at international best practice”.

It will inform the Oireachtas on “possible approaches to drug use” and contribute to a wider society debate on “drug policy”.

In the terms of reference, the assembly must consider, amongst other things: 

• Drivers, prevalence, attitudes and trends in relation to drugs use in Irish society; 
• Harmful impacts of drugs use on individuals, families, communities and wider society; 
• Best practice in promoting and supporting rehabilitation and recovery from addiction; 
• Lived experience of young people and adults affected by drugs use, their families and communities; 
• International, EU, national and local perspectives on drugs use;
• Efficacy of current strategic, policy and operational responses to drugs use.

In most people’s eyes, this is a massive undertaking.

The assembly is scheduled to formally meet over just six weekends between now and October.

It is then due to report to the Oireachtas by year’s end.

Each one of the modules could dominate a team of experts, working full-time, for many months, even years.

Such is the dizzying pace of developments overseas — from the Americas to Europe — it is very difficult just to monitor what’s going on, let alone examine and assess their success or otherwise.

This is all the more so given the relatively short period of time many of the large-scale regulation models have been in place, such as those in North America; the sheer amount of information, perspectives, reports and research coming out in relation to the impact of these models and that the bulk of European initiatives are still only beginning or have only been announced.

Apart from international developments, the assembly is also tasked with examining domestic policies and operational responses to date.

And there are a lot of relevant reports to digest from the Oireachtas Justice Committee’s report in 2015 to the Government advocating Ireland adopt Portugal’s decriminalisation-type model to drug possession; up to the same committee again recommending last December not only decriminalisation for possession of all drugs but also steps to be taken “to introduce a regulatory model for certain drugs”.

BALANCING ACT

The assembly will find that perspectives on decriminalisation and legalisation differ significantly between many of the bodies that have compiled reports on the issue.

Analysing evidence on the impact of decriminalisation and legalisation on the scale of drug use and the health consequences is going to be a very difficult task.

While the human stories of the impact of criminalisation in possession cases will be moving, and even persuasive, the assembly will have to weigh this against other issues such as: 

• Would decriminalisation/legalisation increase levels of drug use and health consequences? 
• Should just cannabis or all drugs be decriminalised? And, perhaps, more crucially — 
• How does society and the State deal with the fact that under most decriminalisation-only models the supply of drugs remains illegal and in the hands of criminal gangs?

In addition, legalisation or regulation is a complex matter.

While some models may remove some or most of the illegal supply for some drugs (most models involving cannabis), experience abroad, particularly in the US, indicates that gangs continue to supply much of the product, given they can do some more cheaply and 24/7, as well as continuing to supply the underage market.

Legalisation also has ripple effects — not only for neighbouring countries but for producing countries where it remains illegal and trafficking is still in the hands of dangerous criminal gangs.

Highly-anticipated plans by the German government to establish a legal cannabis market were launched this week, but in a scaled-back version following legal discussions with the European Commission.

The German government believes its model is compatible with both EU laws and the UN Convention on Narcotic Drugs 1988.

The new scheme is broken up into two phases.

The first involving decriminalisation through regulated non-profit cannabis “social clubs”. Adults will also be allowed to carry up to 25g of cannabis for personal use.

The second phase, to be evaluated over a five year-period, will involve a regional experiment of the commercial supply of regulated cannabis products in certain areas.

The European Commission context is also crucial for Ireland, as is the British context, given we have a border with the UK.

Against the dramatic developments internationally, many medical experts in Ireland and abroad are deeply concerned at what they see as a largely uncritical rush towards decriminalisation and legalisation.

The Cannabis Risk Alliance, the College of Psychiatrists in Ireland, and adolescent addiction expert, Professor Bobby Smyth, lead the concerns here.

Among the other issues linked to domestic drug structures and policies the assembly may look at is the diluted role of community groups, with an increased centralisation in the Department of Health and the HSE in recent decades.

The State-community partnership established since the ministerial task forces of 1996 has taken a hammering, an issue the deceased community leader Fergus McCabe had long championed.

Aside from the policy issues, the assembly has a number of modules on the context and drivers of drug use and the impact on individuals, families and communities.

Today’s inaugural sessions involves a ‘Setting the Scene’ section, led by Paul Griffiths of the EU drugs agency, EMCDDA, and Professor Ivers; ‘Drugs use patterns and trends’ by Anne Doyle and Deirdre Mongan of the Health Research Board and a ‘person-centred perspective’ with Mr McMahon and Mr O’Hara and insights from Sharon Lambert of UCC and Coolmine drug treatment centre CEO Pauline McKeown.

Sunday’s half day session includes ‘International and European perspectives’ with leading experts from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the EMCDDA and the Council of Europe.

That is followed by ‘National perspectives’ with speakers including Siobhán McArdle, Dept of Health; Prof Eamon Keenan, HSE; Ben Ryan, Dept of Justice and Justin Kelly of An Garda Síochána.

The sessions of the experiences of users and families may reveal insights into the roles that childhood trauma, intergenerational drug use and criminal involvement, relative poverty and disadvantage, the ‘normalisation’ of drug use in local areas and the grooming of children by criminal networks can play.

THE FRONTLINE

On the impact on communities, the assembly will hopefully examine the issue of community safety, the extent and nature of community policing, the open display of wealth by criminals, drug debt intimidation, the murder and maiming of mainly young men in disadvantage communities from gang violence, the destruction of community facilities and spaces from the drugs trade and youth gangs.

The deep cuts to local youth and community services and to frontline policing, and the lack of 24-hour local social work, child protection and mental health services will also hopefully feature.

As well as family members and individuals, the assembly could also do with speaking to frontline professionals and workers — the likes of community gardaí and members of local garda drug units, local probation officers and social workers, local youth and outreach workers, teachers and home school liaison officers and local residents.

This may have to involve meeting these individuals in private and “off the record”, away from the eyes and ears of both management and local gangs, so they can talk freely and safely.

Contrary to suggestions that the task for the assembly is relatively simple, many experts believe drugs are what has been called “a wicked problem”, with no simple answers and one requiring a complex response.

Given the record of citizens’ assemblies in grappling with complicated, contentious, and sensitive issues such as marriage equality and abortion, there is reason to have some confidence, particularly if its timeframe can be extended, that it will be up to the demanding task placed upon it.