The publication of the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality Report of the Committee on a Harm Reducing and Rehabilitative approach to possession of small amounts of illegal drugs has been welcomed by Tony Duffin, Director of the Ana Liffey Drug Project who's briefed the Minister on the supervised injecting rooms he wants to introduce in Ireland.
"In recent months the debate regarding decriminalisation of drugs has heated up," Duffin notes. "From London-to-New York and Sydney-to-Vancouver, the eyes of the world are on Irish drug policy. The announcement today by the Chair of the Committee, David Stanton TD, is a significant one, as it shows that there is cross-party and cross-house agreement that criminalising people merely for possession of drugs is not a good policy approach. This means that Minister Aodhán O'Riordan TD, who has responsibility for Ireland's drug strategy, was right to begin a discussion about decriminalisation; and now he has cross-party support to continue on this path of progressive drug policy. We should all be proud that we're moving towards a compassionate health focused response to Ireland's significant drug problems."