A recent article on Independent.ie talks about how Ireland is following other countries like Malta and Luxembourg in the decriminalisation of Cannabis but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Ireland in no way is decriminalising the use of Cannabis like this other countries. Ireland had an opportunity to do so much better back in 2017 when the Minister of State for Health Promotion and National Drugs Strategy, CATHERINE BYRNE TD commissioned a working group “TO CONSIDER ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES TO THE POSSESSION OF DRUGS FOR PERSONAL USE”.

The working group came up with 3 Alternative approaches in their majority report including multiple adult cautions and health diversions but the most important recommendation made by the group in my opinion was to remove imprisonment as a form of punishment from the misuse of drugs act for personal drug possession. Sadly as you might know these recommendations were not taken on board and instead a single adult caution program was put in place but the adult caution is given at the discretion of the Gardaí, the drug user is not entitled to the caution.

One reason why these recommendations might not of been adopted is due to the chair of the working group ex-judge Garrett Sheehan who went against the group and published his own minority report on the findings if the committee. In his minority report it’s made obvious that Garrett has a very strong negative view on drug users, how drugs effect a persons life and how drug users have negative impact on society. Garrett leaves no room for a person who can responsibly consume a drug as in Garretts mind any level of drug use is problematic.

The first sighting of Garretts dislike of drug users comes when he tries to discredit research commissioned by the department of health because 82% of respondents to a survey were drug users. Garrett says “It is hardly surprising that such a group is in favour of changing the law which prohibits possession.” So from Garretts perspective if you are a drug user you don’t get to have a say on whether that drug is illegal or not. If the numbers were the other way around and 82% of those answering the survey did not use drugs and did not want them legal would Garrett be so quick to point out that its hardly surprising that those who abstain from drug use would support keeping drugs highly illegal?

Garrett goes on the describe how a person engaged in “problematic drug use would at some point not only have seriously disturbed and troubled their own families, but would also have committed crime (sometimes serious crime) to fund their addiction.” Keep in mind for Garrett if you consume cannabis regularly (once a week)you are a problematic drug user . I know myself that the only trouble I brought on my family from my cannabis use was when Gardaí started showing up at my door with court summonses. I’m also reminded of the family who are currently living in fear after the Dad of the family was caught with cannabis and cananbis plants. That family are now terrified that he will lose his job and they will not be able to buy their home they have been working and saving so hard for.

Garrett comes across as if his position is based on his desire to help vulnerable people but as the saying goes “The path to hell is paved with good intentions”. I understand that prohibitionists really believe their policy is good and it helps but what I find so hard to understand is how these people can be so oblivious to the effect that criminalising a person has on their life. In Garretts minority report he asks “Would students take more drugs if there was no risk of prosecution, visa refusal, or limited job prospects?” The fact a person has these things threatened for engaging in personal drug use is a form of terrorism in my eyes. Imagine if instead of some crazed prohibitionist this guy was a gay basher and he said people engaged in homosexual behavior or relationships would have their ability to travel and work limited. Maybe back in the early 1900’s that would fly but today we know now that discriminating people like that is evil. In another 10 years we will look back and see how evil the current discrimination of drug users is and wonder how it was ever possible.

Garrett goes on admit he is aware of the harms being done by criminal convictions for personal drug use and says “this may be the price that has to be paid for the overall good of society and particularly for the promotion of public health”. I’m pretty sure that was an argument that would of been put forward by the gay bashing nuts who wanted everyone to believe that all gay men were pedophile sex crazed rapists. The fact is that the prohibition of drugs has had a far more negative impact on the public health and health of our society. In the minority report Garrett talks about drug related violence but what he is actually talking about is prohibition fueled violence.

If we look at alcohol which is a drug that was once prohibited, it’s trade too under prohibition was associated with violence. The Tommy gun is almost emblematic of the alcohol prohibition era as that was the tool of choice for those engaged in the trade under prohibition. The Valentines day massacre is probably one of the most infamous days of alcohol prohibition when a number of members of a drug gang were violently shot and killed with tommy guns in Chicago. Now however the only violence a person would associate with alcohol is with its consumption and not its trade. Under regulation the number of people being killed for its trade is at 0. Taxes are made from the sale of alcohol, lots of people are employed in the industries around alcohol and alcohol is now a lot safer to consume than it was when some gangster was brewing it in his used bathtub.

So while alcohol has devastating effects when abused we can still tolerate it in our society as the prohibition of it would be far far worse. Many people can responsibly consume alcohol and the same can be said for Cannabis. Cannabis is already a well established drug of choice for many Irish adults (17% according to Euro Barometer survey) and we can make it a much safer choice for those who choose it through decriminalisation and regulation. The current average age of a drug dealer is now 14 in Ireland but no 14 year old is ever going to get a job working in an off license or pub in Ireland and that is thanks to regulations that work. (current regulations require a person to be 16 before they can legally work in a pub)

So while Garrett asks “would more students use drugs” if they were decriminalised, I ask the question would people like Keane Mulready Woods still be alive today if we didn’t have prohibition?

Let’s hope 2022 will bring with it some much needed change including ending Cannabis prohibition and stopping the discrimination cannabis consumers face in society.

It’s now 2022 not 1922 we need to stop discriminating people for their choice of drug and if a person has a problem with their drug of choice we need to help them out of it not Punish for it.