Retired Assistant Garda Commissioner, Jack Nolan, will be on the panel on Sunday September 2 as Hot Press, the Ana Liffey Drug Project and the London School of Economics join forces for a special Drug Policy Town Hall Meeting at Electric Picnic.
In a landmark Hot Press interview, which made international headlines, the 40-year veteran of the force revealed that he’s in favour of decriminalising people found in possession of drugs for personal use.
“The person at the end of the food chain, who suffers on the street, has been somewhat forgotten about. Using the criminal court and the law enforcement model for the people unfortunate enough to have become addicted to drugs is probably not the best approach. We’ve had 41 years of the Misuse of Drugs Act; it’s time now to look at different options.”
Among other topics, he’ll be discussing his recent fact-finding trips to Portgual to study their decriminalisation model, which has seen OD drug deaths plummet from 300 in 1998 to 23 last year.
“I met some highly experienced people from the health rehabilitation side who left me somewhat surprised when they talked about 100,000 addicts in 2001 and that now being reduced down to about 50,000, which is still a huge number, but very much heading in the right direction,” he proffered. “I was particularly taken with the Dissuasion Committees, which is what a person found in possession of drugs for personal use goes through rather than the courts. It provides health and psychological evaluations and highlights the rehabilitation and health options that are available.”

Also taking part in what promises to be a lively and forthright debate are Tony Duffin, the CEO of the Ana Liffey Project who are offering outreach and harm reduction services at the Picnic and Dr. John Collins, the Executive Director of the LSE’s International Drug Policy Unit who’s an expert on global policy.

Stuart Clark will be chairing the Town Hall, which kicks off at 5pm in the Hot Press Chatroom and will several special guests. Just turn up to take part!