The “ever increasing prevalence of drugs” in our society and the existence of drug gangs cannot be stopped or defeated by the current methods of criminalisation and enforcement.
This is the view of the Social Democrats’ Galway City East councillor, Owen Hanley, who said it is time the State ended “the ineffective war on drugs” and began instead, to look seriously at a regulation approach.
Cllr Hanley made his call following a statement issued by Youth Workers Against Prohibition, which declared, “the policy of prohibition/criminalisation has failed and is not the way forward."
The group, which features more than 100 youth workers, said "there is, and always will be, a thriving unregulated drug market and the longer we continue to hold on to the illusion of beating it, the longer we will have to see young people, families and communities suffer the consequences".
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Cllr Hanley said the youth workers should be taken seriously as work on the front lines with those who would “otherwise be forgotten by the system”.
“They support those on the hard edge of injustice and inequality,” he said, “so I'm not surprised they are raising their voices against our status quo that simply is not working. We aren't stopping the increasing prevalence of drugs in society, we aren't stopping dangerous drug gangs, and we aren't helping many lives plagued with addiction.”
Social care and public health approach
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In its statement, Youth Workers Against Prohibition said: “We see the devastation that unregulated drugs are inflicting on communities as young people have no idea of the content, purity or consequences of what they are taking. Prohibition drives our young people who use drugs underground, it isolates them and places them in danger...and propels them further into a cycle of addiction, debt and criminality.”
The group is calling on the Government to instead adopt an evidence-based drug policy that places social care and public health, not the criminal justice system, at the heart of the State’s response to drug use.
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“A responsibly regulated market and a health-led response to drug use will produce more informed individuals, stronger communities, and healthier, happier families,” the YWAP statement read. “This approach also recognises that drug addiction is rooted in traumatic adverse early childhood experiences and will be treated as such."
Cllr Hanley believes that this last point is salient. “There is strong evidence in support of a regulation approach,” he said, “that supports individuals from a mental health perspective, and ends the ineffective war on drugs. This discussion must happen."
