LAST UPDATE | 15 Apr 2023
THE FIRST MEETING of the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs is taking place in Dublin today.
The assembly was formally established last month and is mandated to examine possible policy, legislative and operational changes to Ireland’s drug policy to reduce harm on individuals, communities and wider Irish society.
The assembly itself is made up of 99 ordinary members of the public and one chairperson, namely former HSE CEO Paul Reid.
The meeting itself is taking place in the Grand Hotel in Malahide and will kick off at 9.30am, with Reid making an address to the Assembly.
Philly McMahon, a former Dublin GAA star whose brother died of an overdose in 2012, told members of the Assembly that they had an opportunity to make a difference to society.
He said that the current criminal justice system was “not working for us at the minute”.
McMahon was present today for a roundtable discussion centred on people who are impacted by drugs.
Other discussions were focused on giving members an overview of drug use in Ireland, detailing what drugs are used and who uses them.
In particular, there was some discussion on ongoing monitoring of drugs that are entering Ireland, particularly synthetic drugs like fentanyl.
Paul Griffiths, the Scientific Director of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), told the Assembly that synthetic drugs in particular are much more potent than plant-based drugs, like cannabis and opium.
“It’s highly potent and very small packages can be highly profitable for organised crime groups to produce and very small packages can represent hundreds of thousands of street doses,” Griffiths said.
“It’s also very difficult to then divide up safely, if there [are very small] mistakes in terms of cutting that substance, then someone can be exposed to a fatal dose much more easily than with larger volume, plant based materials.”
He added that synthetic drug production “changes the game a little bit”, with no need for large growing areas that are required for plant-based drugs.
When asked about the prevalence of fentanyl in Europe, Griffiths said that there was just “a little bit” but it was primarily an issue in North America.
“I think we can’t be complacent about this, we’re certainly seeing in terms of some of the newer drugs, the synthetic cannabinoids are kind of a problem here because you can get very small packages that can represent very large volumes of potential street drug.
“I think that’s the trouble we’re wrestling with.
“We’re certainly seeing it in terms of synthetics becoming more important as a class of drugs than they used to be.”
Ahead of the meeting, Reid announced that there would be a ‘Lived Experience Group’ established to work alongside the Citizens’ Assembly as well as the advisory group – which has received some criticism from addiction experts.
Yesterday, The Journal reported that one leading expert had flagged concerns about the potential for the Assembly being “steered in a specific direction”.
The Lived Experience Group is being established to ensure that the perspective of individuals and families impacted by drug use are heard, with representatives from the group also forming part of the wider advisory group.
Speaking to The Journal this afternoon, Reid refuted the criticism saying that the advisory group had a diverse membership and set of views.
“I’m very clear and refute criticism of the advisory group because the advisory group has very diverse and very different views,” Reid said.
“People who have completely different views on any end of the continuum with the use of drugs. People that would advocate to decriminalize, people who would advocate that we shouldn’t be.
“People who have the opposite view. So we have the diverse views in the group, and they will provide support and advice throughout.”
He added that it was “quite a complex issue”, but that members of the Assembly were “very focused” to tackle the issues.
Speaking on Newstalk’s The Anton Savage Show, Reid said the discussion would be “much broader” than the issue of legalisation.
“[Our terms of reference] are very clear. It’s about how we reduce the harmful impacts of drugs,” he said.
“But it also sets out for us to consider issues of legislation, regulation, decriminalisation, how do we reduce harm?”
Reid said the three broad areas for the Assembly to make recommendations on were legislation, policy and delivery of services.
“ A lot of the public debate has been on the issue of legislation and decriminalisation, but many people use all those terms in different ways. So I think it’s a good way to get a better understanding of what’s meant by all of those.
“Secondly, if you talk to a lot of the people in the services and service providers, and I have, if you ask them what’s the most important issue? They don’t necessarily talk about legislation or regulation or decriminalisation, they talk about the services and how they deliver them.”
There has been criticism of Reid’s appointment to chair the Assembly. Asked about this, he said he was bringing his “own lived experience” in terms of drug use and areas of high social deprivation.
“I grew up in Finglas West, [which is] a working class area and suffers many issues related to social deprivation, not just related to drugs but related to whole issues of services,” he said.
“But I think professionally… I certainly in my role as CEO of Fingal County Council would have worked with a lot of the service providers related to addiction services, whether it’s local drugs and alcohol taskforce and others. And then in the HSE obviously, my own experience working with many of the prevention services, and treatment services.
“I think I bring a wide range of life experiences, professional experiences, but I’m very clear my role is to be independent.”
Reid said that the overall issue being looked at by the Assembly was “very complex” but told The Journal that they were “very focused” on getting through the issues before the October deadline.
“It’s very challenging to work through the whole agenda in that period, but we’re very focused and we’ll set the agenda out to tackle all of the issues and hear all of the voices during that period and then come to conclusions and recommendations.”
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