Gino Kenny: Urges Health-Based Drug Reform After 10,000 Deaths
Gino Kenny spoke on 11 Oct 2022 about drug policy in this state, arguing the government and previous administrations have failed and reform has stagnated. He warned that 10,000 people have died of drug-related causes in the last 20 years and called for a shift from criminalisation to a health-oriented approach.
Death toll and statistics
In his speech the deputy outlined the scale of the problem, saying 10,000 people have died in the last 20 years - roughly 500 people every year - and warned the response from the state has been inadequate and uneven across communities.
Critique of criminalisation
He criticised the emphasis on criminalising people who use drugs, arguing the approach is unsustainable and ineffective. He said the majority of the prison population are there for drug offences and that resources spent on criminalisation have not produced results.
Support for a health-oriented approach
The deputy urged a move towards treatment and support rather than punishment, arguing the government should adopt a health-oriented approach for people who use drugs. He noted considerations to decriminalise some offences and referenced recent international shifts on cannabis as a welcome development.
Community supports and long-term responses
He called for continuous, long-term community interventions, including supports for young people, stronger addiction services to help people recover, and sustained multidisciplinary teams working with schools, parents and agencies.
Reviving local drug task forces
The deputy argued that area-based responses such as drug task forces previously worked when maintained long-term, and said those frameworks should be persevered with to deliver coordinated, ground-level results.
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Teachta, this government and previous governments have failed the graphs, the winds have changed in regard to drug reform, when other states are changing course, this state, I would argue, has stagnated in relation to drug reform, and in the last 20 years, 10,000 people in this state have died of drug related deaths, it's an incredible statistic, that's 500 people every single year, and there are 500 people that were in the state, and I would argue, Teachta, if these people had different postal addresses, and postal codes, the response from this government and previous governments would have been very, very different, very, very different. We are in a situation, Teachta, where it's unsustainable, the amount of resources that go into criminalising people, in relation to drug use, doesn't work, you even, Joe Biden, announced last week, in relation to cannabis use, and so forth, and that's very welcome, but in this state, Teachta, we criminalise people, we criminalise people, for using drugs, the majority of people in the prison population, are there for drug offences, the resources that go into criminalising people, simply don't work, and we need to do something very, very, very, very different. Deputy Kenny has outlined the appalling death toll in Ireland from drug abuse, and I think there's a number of approaches to dealing with this, and I would say, you know, part of the issue we have, I think, is it tends to be stop-start initiatives, in other words, we need a continuous perseverance in communities, in relation to drug traffickers, and all of that, but also in terms of giving young people supports, so that they can deal with the pressures that they come under, and also then, stronger supports in terms of facilities, services, to help people come off a particular addiction, and also, there are considerations being given, to, in respect of some offences and so on, to decriminalise some, so I think the government is open, to reform in relation to drug policy, and believe in a health-oriented approach, as opposed to a criminal justice-oriented approach, in respect of those who use drugs, but the situation is very serious in the country, in terms of the impact of addiction, generally, on people, and the degree to which it ruins people's lives, so we need, we are allocating fairly significant resources, to the issue across health, justice, and education, but that needs to continue, it needs to persevere, but I also think an area-based response can yield results as well, and that is why I referenced earlier, they were anxious to develop that, the drug task forces in an earlier era worked, they worked well, the issue is there were, some of them were discontinued, and they should have been persevered with, and these are, these are facilities, or these are frameworks you put in place for the long haul, not the short haul, where you have multidisciplinary teams working in the ground, working with schools, working with child care, working with parents, working with homes and families, and agencies working together, and where that happens, you can get good outcomes, and good results.
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