Op Ed: War on drugs isn’t working – we can’t solve addiction crisis without listening to those in it, says Marie Sherlock

DRUG overdose deaths in Ireland are the highest in the EU.

The problem is not confined to opioid abuse on the streets of our big cities.

Drug addiction is cropping up in towns and villages all over the country.

Cocaine has quickly become the most popular drug – accounting for 40 per cent of all addiction treatments.

In recent years, successive governments have talked up a “health-led” approach to move drug addiction out of the justice system and into the healthcare system with a focus on getting people the treatment they need.

However, despite repeated promises from ministers, a Citizen’s Assembly, and a Joint Oireachtas Committee on Drugs Use, the country is still criminalising addiction.

The Labour Party have now sought to force the current Coalition’s hand by tabling a motion to decriminalise drug users.

Here, Dublin Central TD Marie Sherlock outlines why her party believes Ireland’s approach needs to change – and soon.

THE current approach in this country to helping people with an addiction does not work.

Ireland has the highest number of drug-induced deaths in the EU.

Drugs mean different things to different people, from the person who has a serious addiction, to the recreational user, the families trying to support their teenager or the grandparents having to step in, to the communities dealing with open dealing and drug related intimidation.

And while each group above will have a different perspective, I believe all would agree that the current system of the war on drugs has not worked.

The reality is that drugs are in every community in this country and the current system of trying to police our way to a drug-free world has failed.

Instead, the Labour Party has been campaigning for a very different approach to drugs.

We believe it is vital Ireland adopts a compassionate, health-led approach.

We believe the criminalisation of people who use drugs must end and we must decriminalise the user.

Drugs will remain illegal, and all policing efforts should be on targeting the trade.

For too long, Ireland’s criminal justice approach to drug use has led to stigma and shame, and has been an obstacle to people with an addiction seeking the support and the help they need.

This has led to unnecessary deaths, homelessness and chronic ill health that has not been treated.

In 2021, 354 people died because of an overdose.

For women and, in particular mothers, there is an even greater stigma.

"Criminalising, shaming and stigmatising people in addiction drives people further into crisis, keeps them away from healthcare and recovery services, and perpetuates cycles of poverty and trauma."

The biggest worry is that, if they seek help, their children will be taken from them. But mothers have the best hope of recovery if they are supported to keep their kids with them.

This week, Labour used its Private Members’ Time in the Dáil to call for the decriminalisation of people who use drugs and the creation of a truly health-led drugs policy.

The evidence is clear: criminalising, shaming and stigmatising people in addiction drives people further into crisis, keeps them away from healthcare and recovery services, and perpetuates cycles of poverty and trauma.

Successive governments have promised reform but failed to deliver.

The Citizens’ Assembly on Drug Use and the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Drug Use have both recognised that criminalisation is not working, and I am part of the Joint Oireachtas committee on drug reform which is working on how to do this.

Whether Government is committed remains to be seen.

They have said they plan to introduce a health diversion scheme, but we have no detail.

This scheme has no footing in law, and as a result, appears to be dependent on the individual approach of Gardaí, with no guidance on what constitutes personal use, and no clarity on the resourcing Government will put in place for the health system to manage referrals.

A haphazard approach is not good enough.

TRANSFORMATIVE RESULTS

Across Europe, other countries have shown that there is a better way.

Portugal took the brave step over two decades ago to decriminalise personal possession of drugs.

The result was transformative — fewer deaths, fewer infections, and more people entering treatment.

There was no increase in drug trafficking or the numbers of people who use drugs.

In Ireland, cocaine is now the most common drug treated in the country, accounting for 40 per cent of all treatment cases this year.

The high number of drugs deaths here are not abstract. They represent communities in crisis, families in pain, and lives that could maybe have been saved.

We urgently need a policy that meets this reality with care, not condemnation.

A community-based, health-led alternative is vital — one that tackles the adverse consequences of drug use.

Harm-reduction services must be expanded across Ireland and funded on a multi-annual basis to ensure stability and reach.

INTERVENTIONS SAVE LIVES

Safe consumption spaces must be opened, with a focus on overdose education and prevention, and to expand to cater for changing trends such as crack cocaine consumption.

These are proven interventions that save lives.

We must also ensure that those with lived experience have a seat at the table in shaping policy.

For too long, the voices of people in recovery and active addiction have been excluded from decision-making.

A compassionate system must be built with their experience at its core.

Labour’s motion calls on Government to establish a dedicated Cabinet Committee on Drug Use, to repeal Section 3 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1997, and to provide the funding and political will to turn words into action.

The aim is simple — to take drug use out of the courts and place health and humanity at the centre of our national response.

Every day of inaction, another person slips through the cracks of an unforgiving system. It is time to act with courage and compassion.