My column in The Kerryman. 19 June, 2013
I’ve always considered myself a bit worldly. Very few things can take me by surprise, but I was stunned to learn the Gardaí estimate that since 2011, eight people in Kerry have died due to heroin. These figures appeared in this newspaper, during coverage of the tragic death of Natasha Donovan, young mother to two children.
We can only hope that the widespread coverage of this tragedy and the bravely expressed grief of those family members she left behind, will in some way influence young people who may be considering that very dangerous choice to use recreational drugs.
Is hope enough? Are the efforts of our gardaí, locally, nationally and even internationally enough? Are our efforts to help addicts enough? Is our criminalising of addicts enough? Is our moral certainty enough?
Clearly not. Drugs remain available. People are dying. Facilities to treat addicts are inadequate. And we continue with the same policies that have been proven to not work. Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing again and again, expecting a different outcome. Our reaction to recreational drug use, our attitudes and laws regarding recreational drug use, result in continual and maddening failure.
When addressing the use of narcotics, one must decide which core principal will inform policy. Is one more concerned with preventing the use of drugs, or does one think saving lives is more important? Think hard on that one. Every decision made by our society and our State regarding narcotics, must necessarily stem from that choice; try to stop the drugs being used, or try to stop people dying.
No, we can’t do both. We do not have the resources for both our gardaí and health care practitioners to fight this war on two fronts. No nation on Earth does. Most countries have chosen to prioritise stopping drug use. Some even execute drug dealers. Others lock up their citizens for decades for possession of small amounts of the mildest of narcotics. Result? Worldwide there have been hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of people displaced because of this war on drugs.
It is estimated that there are 20 000 heroin addicts in Ireland. To treat these people there are 38 detox beds. The money being generated by this addiction is so vast and steady, suppliers are quick to murder their rivals in the trade. Guns are plentiful and gangland shootings have become routine. In response we demand more gardaí. More money from the ever decreasing public pot to be wasted on a failed mission to stop drugs reaching Ireland in huge quantities, being divided among the bigger dealers, then divided again among the smaller dealers, before distribution to the addicts and new users. Everyone taking a huge cut of money, except the consumers.
Some countries are entirely sick of this cycle of failure, this expensive mess. They decided a new emphasis was needed. They decided that saving lives was more important than making criminals of those who either dabble in drug use or who are mired in drug addiction. Nations like Portugal decriminalised all drugs. Drug use has actually gone down. Deaths have gone down. Infectious diseases have been reduced. Crime has been reduced.
Again, ask yourself this question, is stopping people taking drugs – something no nation has ever achieved – more important or less important than saving lives? I know I’d vote for saving lives every time.
