In response to a parliamentary question asked by Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, the former Labour Minister for Drugs, it's been revealed that the number of people charged for possession of drugs for personal use in Ireland has risen from 3,692 in 2017 to a staggering 6,396 this year. This makes a mockery of the diversion schemes that are supposed to reduce the number of people going through the criminal justice system for minor drug offences that don't include any other forms of criminality.

"Only last week, somebody in Laois was taken to court and fined €250 for the possession of just a fiver's worth of cannabis," says Stuart Clark who covers the drug beat for Hot Press. "Apart from the unnecessary criminalising of people, how is that an efficient use of Garda and court time and resources?"

Once again, it's time to look at the Portuguese model which has dramatically reduced the number of people going to court for personal possession.

“Drug dealers still go to jail but if a guy has, say, six grams of hashish on him, the courts will often refer them back to us,” the Head of the Lisbon Dissuasion Commission, Dr. Nuno Capaz, told us when we were over in Portugal on a fact-finding mission. "The cost to the state of sending somebody to court is €480 as opposed to €230 for attending the Dissuasion Commission. We saw 4,000 people last year in this office, which is a saving of €1 million and the outcome is better too."

We'll be hearing more from Dr. Nuno Capaz, who was invited to present to the Citizens' Assembly on Drugs, about the continued effectiveness of the Portuguese model on hotpress.com soon.

In the meantime, let's hope that the rest of the Oireachtas digest the below figures before addressing the Citizens' Assembly on Drug's recent recommendations.

https://www.hotpress.com/culture/how-to-end-irelands-drug-deaths-epidemic-22581588

Number of people charged for possession of drugs for personal use over the last number of years released to me through a parliamentary question. ⬇️

Up from 3692 in 2017 to 6396 already this year.

Complete waste of Garda time & criminalises addiction.

WE HAVE TO #DECRIM pic.twitter.com/IkvqZSkmWw

— Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (@AodhanORiordain) October 27, 2023