We need a clear, rational and sensible policy on recreational drugs, and we need it now

When times are grim, we must take our pleasures where we can. As long days and short nights arrive, and even warm weather now and then, that means park-life, barbecues, festivals and outdoor gigs.

Festivals are now collective rites of passage. They’re more central to our communal calendar and sense of self than the old religious rites ever were, and especially so for young people.

In the craic and celebration of a festival, memories are created, things are defined, chances are taken and choices made. That’s not to say there won’t also be mud and queues, headaches and perhaps even heartaches. And there will be drugs.

It used to be that alcohol was at the core of the festival experience, but that’s no longer the case. It’s still there, but is much less central for the current festival-going age group. Indeed, falling demand has driven grape growers to dig out tens of thousands of hectares of vines around the world.

On the other hand, drugs are much more central, both to the festival experience and life in general. Cannabis is smoked openly in towns and cities, cocaine is available even in the most remote corners of the country, and synthetic opioids are introduced to supplement heroin supplies.

Over 800 new psychoactive substances have been identified in Europe since 2007. It’s a mad hatter’s tea party. We can’t say it’s uncontrolled or unmanaged. It is, and very effectively, by drug cartels. Anything we spend on illegal drugs ultimately goes to a gangster.

At Governmental level, notwithstanding the cornucopia of psychoactive drugs in circulation, we’re left with PR-driven nods to law enforcement and harm reduction. This dithering has serious implications for night-life and for festival goers. Unregulated recreational drugs present very significant risks, because you just don’t know what you’re buying.

CONTRAST WITH ALCOHOL

In its European Drugs Report 2023, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) explains: “Almost everything with psychoactive properties can appear on the drug market, often mislabelled or in mixtures, leaving consumers potentially unaware of what they are using, increasing health risks and creating new law enforcement and regulatory challenges.”

And there’s more: “The market is now characterised by the relatively widespread availability of a broader range of drugs, which are often available at high potency or purity.”

This means increased risks for consumers. Hence the red alert issued in Ireland in March about a synthetic opioid that was being sold as heroin. It was actually a drug called ‘N-Pyrrolidino Protonitazene’ which is stronger than fentanyl.

Meanwhile, cannabis edibles can contain potent synthetic cannabinoids. And then, listed on drugs.ie, you also have new benzodiazepines, nitrous oxide, cannabis edibles, MDMA, cocaine, ketamine, the G series of drugs (GHB, GBL and liquid ecstasy) and, of course, ‘poly drug use’.

All illegal. But this is what you get when the law is no longer fit for purpose. You won’t stem the rise of drug use in Ireland when society ignores the law wholesale.

It’s a perfect illustration of capitalism in practice: there’s a market there and it will be met. That’s fine if it can happen within the law. But legally or not, the demand will be met.

Official policy is a proverbial case of doing the same thing again and again and hoping for a different result. We’re still in prohibition, and Simon Harris’s pivoting of Fine Gael to core (conservative blue-rinse) values suggests we could be staying there a while.

The contrast with alcohol is stark: unlike illegal drugs, where the content is always a gamble, alcohol has quality control and the dose is clearly stated – we know what a safe dose is and can count the units.

And the industry is highly regulated, licensed and taxed. Yet, bizarrely, and up here on Hog Hill we think irresponsibly, there’s resistance from the anti-alcohol lobby to the Sale of Alcohol Bill, which is intended to align the sale of alcohol with nightlife.

This opposition is despite tourists and young people being the key beneficiaries. The latter are drinking less than previous generations, but taking considerably more drugs.

The prohibitionists are emboldened by the recent rejection of two constitutional amendments. Like the politico-media elite, they interpret that as a shift to the right, even though it’s nothing of the sort.

FOLLOW THE MONEY

So, maybe it’s time to start laying down challenges. It’s time to move beyond decriminalisation of small amounts of cannabis. Best go the whole way and legalise its production and importation, its sale and possession.

That means treating it on the same basis as alcohol which, in turn, means tight regulation, including standards and strengths, bonded warehouses, licensing and, of course, taxation.

That’s how it’s done in an increasing number of territories. And, for the weak-kneed, the taxation benefits are considerable. In August 2022, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in the US presented an analysis showing that the 11 US states where marijuana is legal pulled in almost $3 billion in excise taxes on cannabis in 2021.

That’s more than they made on alcohol excise taxes or liquor store profits. California’s legal marijuana market generated $832 million in excise taxes, about twice as much as from alcohol sales. In Colorado, marijuana revenues generated $396 million for the state, almost eight times as much as alcohol taxes.

Lots of countries are cottoning on, Germany being the latest. Ireland should follow suit, in jig time. Follow the money! Nor should it end there. There’s a very strong, logic-based case to be made that all recreational drugs should be legalised, regulated and, of course, taxed.

Policy should be based on recognising that the demand that exists will be met illegally if there’s no legal avenue. Wouldn’t it be far better that this demand be met lawfully, in a way that sets and maintains standards, extracts income that can be spent on developing services and information streams and, crucially, removes the whole vast drug industry and all its treasures from the grip of gangsters?

We’re entering a year of elections. Politicians will be calling to our houses and apartments to introduce themselves and listen to what the citizens have to say. Some will certainly rock up at festivals, possibly in shades and casual clothes. Well, hey! If chatting with prospective candidates, let’s all be straight on two things.

First, we need a clear, rational and sensible policy on recreational drugs, and we need it now. Second, we, but especially young people, need a vibrant nightlife. Four years after the pandemic, this is a debt unpaid.

Tell them it’s one of the things your vote will depend on.