Ireland is on a roll. Just a few months ago the country voted in a referendum to allow equal marriage. Now Irish National Drugs Safety minister Aodhán Ó Ríordáin has announced plans for possession of cannabis, cocaine and heroin to be de-criminalised. There must be something in the water.
Ireland is largely apeing Portugal, which decriminalised all drugs in 2001. Since then deaths from drug consumption and AIDs infection rates have plummeted. 
The principle change will be that a drug addiction will no longer be seen as a criminal problem but a health problem. Heroin users will be able safely inject at so-called ‘shooting galleries’.
Now obviously whenever anyone dies from a drug overdose it is very sad for their families. But alcohol accounts for far more deaths per year than drugs do. We’ve already seen from the Prohibition era in the US that criminalising alcohol consumption simply increases demand and puts the profits into the hands of gangsters. This is precisely the same situation that we have at the moment with drugs. In Russia many people die each year from black-market alcohol. The same is true with ecstasy tablets in the UK which have not been tested to see if they are safe.
The Irish state is also likely to save a lot of money due to the high costs involving in keeping drug users in prison. When Portugal decriminalised drugs it meant that drug-related offences decreased from 44% to 21%. This means less money spent on prison, prosecuting offences and of course less burglaries, robberies and so forth. It also means Irish police time will be freed up to tackle more serious, violent crimes.
Unfortunately I cannot see such a liberal approach happening in the UK any time soon. When Gordon Brown was Prime Minister he even fired a drug advisor for telling the truth that riding a horse was more dangerous than taking ecstasy. The Tory government has recently banned so-called ‘legal highs’ and drug policy is controlled by right-winger Theresa May at the Home Office. However, a more optimistic view is that if the Irish drug policy turns out to be a success then it will be harder for the UK government to avoid.
So, good-luck Ireland! Its a brave move to stare down conservatives and admit that the War on Drugs hasn’t worked. Portugal should really be applauded as well for being a leader on drug reform in Europe. Hopefully the new Irish policy will mean giving users of drugs the ability to reduce their dependency in a healthy way without fear of going to prison for an addiction.
Political Obsessive 