Podcast: Will drug decriminalisation actually happen?

An Oireachtas committee has recommended fully decriminalising the possession of drugs for personal use.

The final report from the Joint Committee on Drugs Use - which was set up to consider recommendations from a 2023 Citizens' Assembly - says the personal possession of drugs "for one's own use should cease to be treated as a criminal matter" and be met with a health-led approach.

It also makes recommendations across family and community supports, intergenerational trauma, addiction, sports and wellbeing.

Portugal, which had a major heroin problem in the 1990s, took a radical approach and decriminalised all personal drug use in 2001.

The change meant people carrying drugs for personal consumption were not prosecuted but instead were referred to health and social services to receive treatment.

Lisbon-based journalist Alison Roberts told Behind the Story the seeds were sown for the Portuguese model years before it came into force.

"The then-Socialist government was very well aware that there was a whole generation of youngsters in the wake of Portugal’s entry into the European Union, rapid modernisation of society and the sudden entry of hard drugs … there was a whole generation that fell victim, particularly to heroin addiction," she said.

"It really did become seen as a health problem because almost every family had someone who was affected by this."

'Not about reducing drug use’

Ms Roberts said the main element at the heart of the Portuguese policy was for people to get treatment.

"This wasn’t about reducing drug use per se," she explained.

"That would be great if that happened, but the main thing was to catch people who were simply going to prison and not being treated - and instead to channel them into treatment solutions."

People found in possession of small quantities of drugs are taken before a tribunal of experts - such as a psychologist and a doctor - who can direct them to treatment.

"They couldn’t make you go to treatment, but if you did not go to treatment, you would then be in breach of whatever they were ordering," Ms Roberts said.

"This whole new system was set up, which was very much under the health ministry, as opposed to the courts - which, of course, are under justice."

Ms Roberts said the policy has been supported by successive governments.

"Many years have gone by now – there have been ups and downs, usually to do with how much treatment has been funded," she said.

"During the debt crisis, when Portugal suffered along with other countries, a lot of cuts were made, and the policy did not work so well.

"But nevertheless, it has stuck … there’s really never been any kind of challenge in terms of rolling back this idea of decriminalising drug possession and use."

Mobile injection centres

Ms Roberts said many pharmacies provide a needle-exchange facility, while mobile injection centres have meant NIMBYism has been reduced.

"In the case of Lisbon, the first [injection centre] was a mobile one - precisely because you have this issue of [people] saying, we don’t want this in our neighbourhood," she said.

"Having a mobile one is a way of getting around that issue.

"It’s here for a week, it’s not quite so problematic perhaps as a big building where people are being drawn to forever."

Ms Roberts said the argument comes down to how you treat drug users.

"In many cases we are talking about addicts," she said.

"You may not be able to stop them anyway, that would be the argument: they are going to use, and it’s better to treat them as people with a health problem than to treat them as a criminal."

You can listen to Behind the Story on the RTÉ Radio Player.

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