International report makes case for drug decriminalisation

The US-based Johns Hopkins-Lancet Commission on Drug Policy and Health, made up of 26 scientists, published its findings in medical journal The Lancet.

Their report states: “Policies meant to prohibit or greatly suppress drugs present a paradox. They are portrayed and defended vigorously by many policy makers as necessary to preserve public health and safety, and yet the evidence suggests that they have contributed directly and indirectly to lethal violence, communicable-disease transmission, discrimination, forced displacement, unnecessary physical pain, and the undermining of people’s right to health.”

It adds that the “harms of prohibition far outweigh the benefits”.

Its findings reflect some of those of the Oireachtas Justice Committee, which sent a fact-finding delegation to Portugal in June 2015 to examine the country’s approach to drugs law.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, outgoing minister of state with responsibility for the national drugs strategy, said afterwards: “I am in favour of a decriminalisation model, but it must be one that suits the Irish context and be evidence based.”