The Republic Ireland isnt generally seen as a radical country; under a strong

influence of Catholicism, Ireland is traditionally known for its socially conservative

values, but recently something has shifted. Last month the Minister of Ireland's
National Drugs Strategy, Aodhn Rordin, announced revolutionary new plans
to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs.
In recent years, the decriminalization of cannabis has happened with more and
more frequency, but Ireland has gone one step further. Believing that a cultural
shift is needed to properly tackle addiction, Irish officials plan to decriminalize
the possession of small amounts of heroin and cocaine and will soon roll out
injecting rooms where users can inject under hygienic, supervised conditions.
These radical new measures are part of a bid to erode the persistent and
damaging stigma of addiction. The Irish officials leading this charge are part of a
growing group who believe that drug abuse should not be dealt with by the
criminal justice system, but should be treated as a health issue. Rather than
disciplining and disgracing addicts, help and understanding should be offered
instead, as Rordin explained:
I am firmly of the view that there needs to be a cultural shift in how we regard
substance misuse if we are to make a serious attempt to tackle drug and alcohol
addiction. Too often those with drug problems suffer from stigma, due to a lack of
understanding or public education about the nature of addiction. This stigma can
be compounded for those who end up with a criminal record due to possession of
drugs for their own use.
The strict drugs laws employed by countless countries across the world most a
result of the failed War on Drugs have, in most cases, done more harm than
good and have only universally succeeded in perpetuating the stigma of
addiction. Rordin believes that dehumanizing addicts and writing them off as
just junkies is enormously damaging, and a little compassion goes a long way in
tackling the problem.
This thought process is of course not alien to the USA; just last month President
Obama spoke out against Americas approach to drugs, criticizing its focus on
drug supply and yet apparent apathy when it comes to dealing with treatment
and prevention: One of my goals when I came into office was to restore a sense
of balance when it came to drugs, illegal and legal. For a long time, treatment
was a second-class citizen to interdiction and arrest.
That Americas War on Drugs has failed is rarely disputed, and it is precisely this
heavy truth which has become the catalyst for many people in this country to
consider a more open-minded approach. Clearly, there has to be some kind of

shift in this country, because the inescapable fact is that the USA is in the midst
of a serious drug problem.
Prescription drug abuse is out of control. The number of Americans who died as
a result of abusing prescription pain relief drugs quadrupled in the years between
1999 and 2010, a staggering escalation. Heroin use has almost doubled in just
over seven years; in 2013, half a million Americans disclosed theyd used heroin
in the past year and, subsequently, heroin-related deaths have tripled.
There are many in the US who will be watching how the effects of the Irish
decriminalization play out. As Rordin took pains to stress, decriminalization is
not the same as legalization; selling and distributing drugs will remain an offense,
but the people using the drugs would not be the ones targeted and punished.
The focus will instead be on tackling the drug manufacturers, traffickers and
dealers.
How this unfolds in Ireland will be of great interest to both sides of the drug
decriminalization debate here in the USA. While the evidence to suggest that
supervised drug injection rooms are on the whole beneficial is strong (Europe
has multiple injecting rooms, most of which have gone through meticulous
appraisals), there are still many who say injecting rooms will be morally and
socially disastrous. Rordin, however, believes this is just another
manifestation of the prejudicial stigma of addiction:
What the debate about safer injecting rooms is really about is, 'We really don't
like these people, they are a sub-species, less than human, we should just
sweep them away and it will all be better,'. If you are a citizen of the Republic,
you should be treated as a citizen of the Republic. If you have illness, society
needs to treat you."
Whether or not Rordin is correct about this, opponents of injecting rooms and
decriminalization cannot always be dismissed as biased or judgmental. Bob
Jenkins is a former heroin addict who is against decriminalizing heroin and
cocaine although he is for decriminalizing cannabis.
I understand what Ireland is trying to do with these new laws, Jenkins states,
But the problem is, people keep referring to the recently relaxed cannabis laws
to prove their point that this stance works. I cant stress enough that the two are
totally different and cannot be treated the same. Its one thing to turn a blind eye
to pot, but heroin? I really do think decriminalizing heroin sends out entirely the
wrong message to our kids. On paper, it minimizes the risk, and that could be
catastrophic.

Jenkins also believes that injecting rooms are a worrying idea: Heroin is the
worst drug. Its the worst of the worst. The idea of the state handing it out to
users seems nonsensical. Im not saying our method over here in the US in any
better I think its proven that our approach doesnt work. But Im hopeful there
can be another solution one that doesnt treat addicts like criminals and lock
them up and throw away the key but one that also doesnt enable.
Im hopeful that there can be a middle ground. Maybe these drug law changes
will work in Ireland, and if they do I think we need to look at that and learn from it
when it comes to our own drug policies. But for now, I think we can definitely
learn from just the ideas behind these changes. If we start implementing these
ideologies into our society, we could be surprised at the amount of progress that
is made.
One thing Jenkins can firmly agree with Rordins on is the idea that
Addiction is not a choice, its a healthcare issue. Alcoholics are not treated as
criminals, and neither should addicts be. The War on Drugs has left devastation
in its wake that tells us its crucial to approach our drug problem in a more
constructive and sensitive way.