If drug users are to be allowed small quantities then there should be a legal mechanism for the supply of these small quantities through a recognised system. The illegal drug suppliers have to be stopped. That is the kernel of the problem. To legalise the use means having to legalise the supply.

That question is asked very strangely; “Do you think drug users should escape criminal conviction?”

Do I think people with a small quantity of cannabis obviously for personal use should be let off? Most definitely.

Do I think addicts who make peoples lives miserable and intimidate people in the city centre in busy areas and at those soup kitchens springing up on every corner should escape conviction for their crimes? Absolutely not.

The results of this pointless poll show just what a backwards, regressive small minded little country we are. Christ, even the US has admitted its lost the war on drugs by legislating instead of treating. But not to worry, big bag of cans and 20 smokes is just what the doctor ordered. A country of sheep…..

‘Depends on the drug they have on them’ would be a handy option here.

Completely legalise and take the violence and profit out of it. American soldiers were prescribed heroin (A form of it) after World War Two, never robbed an aol lady to get more)

Yes, qualified: If someone uses drugs, fine. If their use causes harm to others, then that harm should entail consequences. It should also involve counselling, advice and harm reduction.

Non violent drug offenders should not be convicted in possession of an amount for personal use.For recreational drugs like Ecstasy and MDMA,there should have test kits available. There must be injection centres and plenty of councillors available to offer advice and help to addicts.

Anybody that says “This will only encourage people to take drugs.” are idiots and should not be listened to.The drugs are here, the War on Drugs has been a complete failure and that genie is not going back into the bottle.

Awfully worded and inflammatory poll options, under the laws they wont be “escaping” conviction, drug use will simply be decriminalised its worked in other countries as all the stats and evidence has pointed to the continuing “war on drugs” being a complete and utter abject failure wasting time and money for everyone

Decriminalise all drugs, make them available through pharmacies, collect taxes on them, take the money out of the hands of criminal gangs, save police time, reduce prison costs.

There is no good reason for it to be illegal to consume drugs /possess small ammounts for possession.

Who is it supposed to be protected by having such a law?
It is not helping those caught in possession, it does not keep consumption rates any lower, peoples lives are being ruined by the convictions far more so than from their drug use.
What harm to society (or themselves) is someone with a bit of weed or some mdma in their pocket?
None!
A bag of cans is far more dangerous.

Decriminalization is the first step in the right direction.
Cannabis is one thing but
There is a coke epidemic in the country that isnt being discussed.
Its more widely used than cannabis.

The drug users are the biggest victims

If you consider drug taking an illness then yes they should escape. The actions resulting from taking drugs, no matter what type of drug being used is a totally separate matter.

Our current approach is the biggest waste of time, money and policing power, not to mention it’s totally ineffective.

All for a progressive approach to drug policy but decriminalisation needs to be accompanied by an increase in addiction services and other measures to reduce the money made on the black market. Just changing one thing would be a missed opportunity and could make some problems worse.

The rubbish way the question is phrased, implies that drug users should not be convicted if they commit crimes.

Anything which grows naturally should never be illegal and to place a made up price on the cost of a marijuana plant is criminal. Oh! he was caught with a plant with 8 ounces of ‘weed’ on it so it is a criminal offence and a figure of 10k is applied as its ‘value’. This means we can apply section 15a of the misuse of drugs act 1977 and send people away for a minimum of 10 years (thanks to michael McDowell). This is nonsense and making the gardai out to be great when all they did was a bit of gardening and made it out to be something important when all it is is a cheap shot with made up prices. There is no price to marijuana as it costs nothing to grow and a waste of garda resources and a policy which creates crime and is detrimental to society. Stupid backward nanny state mentality, which is encouraged by rural publicans and politicians and damaging society. Legalise drugs and reduce crime and in addition by taxing drugs for sale we can create profits which can be benefical to society rather than waste money on the current failed ‘strategy’ . Regardless anyone who wants to grow a plant for their own use should be allowed to do so and it would also reduce alcohol consumption (which is the real government fear) and release more money to be spent into the community.

We have drug mules walking free and being prised by popular media so average users should have no offence at all for using drugs in Ireland.

Ridiculous way to phrase the question.

Let’s be honest here, marijuana should not even be in the discussion. Using it harms no one.
As for other drugs… Do you lock up an alcoholic? Do you lock up someone with a gambling addiction? Do you lock up someone with an eating disorder? No. So why are we locking up people with drug addictions?

I voted no as my consciemce would not allow me to imprison the sick people who use drugs for pain relief, whether prescribed drugs or not.

Yes but on two conditions, one that drug users selling drugs are still convicted and two that all drug users are kept somewhere safe away from the rest of us.

Should be asking the reasons why people feel the need to take drugs, what is causing those insecurities, what is lacking in their life, love, money, family, happiness? …and address those issues too.

We have a definite cocaine problem .by the time it reaches our shores having gone through all the middle men who adulterate it to maximise profit .it is hardly fit to put up anyone’s nose ,

They shouldn’t be arrested for possession but definitely should be for making a nuisance of themselves, pestering tourists and robbing.

If the drug user has done no harm to others, their property or their Rights, then their own RIGHTS AND PROPERTY SHOULD BE RECOGNISED – if they have done harm then they can be arrested under existing relevant laws, not drug laws. No Victim No Crime. Call a doctor not a cop.

Imagine small quantities means the equivalent of a six pack of beer. You’d hardly force someone to go through counselling for a six pack, even if alcohol were classified as a Class A drug.

More Customs X-Ray machines at each port on the Island-if necessary put 3 in Belfast. Stop the majority of hard drugs coming on to the Island.
Assist addicts with their addiction via drug rehab centers.

People who use knowingly use dangerous drugs should be sent to jail. I’d start with the nicotine addicts. Lock them up. That will teach them a lesson. Then go for anyone who drinks alcohol, similarly because it’s such a dangerous drug that everybody knows causes widespread harm to individuals and to society. Prison for alcohol users will act as a deterrent, so that young people are not tempted to try it. Finally all the coffee addicts can be put in jail for long periods until they see the error of their ways. This would be a great first step towards the goal of creating a drug free society for future generations.

For anyone here saying we have a cocaine epidemic in the country, here is a report from January 2017 with the current statistics for cocaine use in the country. It doesn’t mention crime but there is a total figure for people who sought help for addiction to cocaine in 2016. Assuming that anyone arrested for offenses related to cocaine addiction are sent for treatment, we can also assume that this report accounts for cocaine related crime. Roughly 750 people out of the 4.6 million we have in the country. That is around 0.02% of the population. Just because it is a popular party drug does not mean we have an epidemic on our hands. Simmer down. The problem I have with cocaine use is that 1) it is highly profitable for violent gangs on the black market and 2) there is 0 control over quality of product and it is often cut with very harmful substances. Obvious answer? Legislation and regulation. Drugs are unbiased. They don’t have opinions and are neither good or bad. Not only that, if a people want something they are going to get it. Demonizing chemicals to promote prohibition is counter productive to the end goal. Which should be harm reduction across the board. http://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/17308/1/Cocaine%20Factsheet%20January%20%202017.pdf

Drug use is a vice at most, and vices are not crimes!

https://web-beta.archive.org/web/20020105211851/VicesAreNotCrimes.htmhttp://www.lysanderspooner.org/VicesAreNotCrimes.htm

“Vices are those acts by which a man harms himself or his property.

Crimes are those acts by which one man harms the person or property of another.

Vices are simply the errors which a man makes in his search after his own happiness. Unlike crimes, they imply no malice toward others, and no interference with their persons or property.

In vices, the very essence of crime — that is, the design to injure the person or property of another — is wanting.

It is a maxim of the law that there can be no crime without a criminal intent; that is, without the intent to invade the person or property of another. But no one ever practises a vice with any such criminal intent. He practises his vice for his own happiness solely, and not from any malice toward others.

Unless this clear distinction between vices and crimes be made and recognized by the laws, there can be on earth no such thing as individual right, liberty, or property; no such things as the right of one man to the control of his own person and property, and the corresponding and coequal rights of another man to the control of his own person and property.

For a government to declare a vice to be a crime, and to punish it as such, is an attempt to falsify the very nature of things. It is as absurd as it would be to declare truth to be falsehood, or falsehood truth.”

At most Government has a right to legislate over problematic *public* drug use, but not *private.* In British law, so termed ‘private sobriety’, whether performed or not, is actually an absolute right & duty, and the Courts & human tribunals can never know of it! At least, that’s how it ought to be, but of course it isn’t right now!

http://lonang.com/library/reference/blackstone-commentaries-law-england/bla-101/
“Let a man therefore be ever so abandoned in his principles, or vicious in his practice, provided he keeps his wickedness to himself, and does not offend against the rules of public decency, he is out of the reach of human laws. But if he makes his vices public, though they be such as seem principally to affect himself, (as drunkenness, or the like) they then become, by the bad example they set, of pernicious effects to society; and therefore it is then the business of human laws to correct them. Here the circumstance of publication is what alters the nature of the case.

Public sobriety is a relative duty, and therefore enjoined by our laws: ***private sobriety is an absolute duty, which, whether it be performed or not, human tribunals can never know; and therefore they can never enforce it by any civil sanction.***”

Surely these principles of having private & public rights are global ones in all civil Societies?

Drug dealers should be gaoled for life or face the death penalty. They inflict significant misery on individuals, families and society in general. Whack ‘em! Lets the punishment fit the crime!

Define drug use . Then define which group . Then see about a law i suppose. Not talking about Crystal meth or crack cocaine here but let’s see what exactly the government has in mind now

Legalisation will put a lot of people out of a job. How Will the criminals survive

If you treat it like alcohol, if your off your box, your arrested, you drive on drugs your in court and banned. But who is going to insure they are safe? Unlike alcohol you get a bad bottle, you have a bad following day, with drugs a bad one could mean your in a coffin.

I would like to know if a person is passed out on the street off their head on drugs and brought to the hospital are they charged with drug taken. I am unemployed and I have a medical card I was charged a lot of money to have blood test and what was a free regular checkup at a young age is now 90 euros and the 50 euros for blood test I am trying to look after my health and this is what the charge is, if I wanted to I could develop a dependency, for example a person with a disability allowance because they are asthmatic and spends the day smoking wacky tobacco, where do you draw the line. To many excuses, also for people who are jailed I wonder if they had to repay what it cost the taxpayer to maintain them whilst in jail I wonder would it deter them. Just a thought. There are genuine cases and then there are the dependency cases. They need to be separated.

What a loaded poll question