Summary: The proposed decriminalization of certain drugs like heroin and cocaine in Ireland would give drug addicts a break while still treating suppliers as the criminals that they are.
In what may appear as an approval for drug use on the surface, the minister of Ireland’s National Drugs Strategy makes the difference between approval and support clear as the country moves to decriminalize drugs. Aodhán Ó Ríordáin emphasized that the country needed to change their ways to helping instead of shaming addicts. Dealers will still be prosecuted.
- See Ireland Allows Transgender to Easily and Legally Change Gender for more information about Ireland’s laws.
Ríordáin gave a lecture at the London School of Economics, where he announced that special rooms would be available for drug users to shoot up in. The drugs involved in the decriminalization move are cocaine, heroin, and cannabis.
Making a profit on drugs through the sales and distribution of illegal drugs will result in criminal action instead of punishing addicts. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime appears to be calling for similar actions across the global scene.
The proposed injection rooms in Ireland would be clinically controlled environments, so that those taking the drugs are prevented from putting themselves in further danger. Drug addicts generally tend to place themselves in unsafe places in order to take drugs, and then are left even more vulnerable while on the drugs.
Providing a safer environment is the next step for those addicted to gain the help they need to stay safe and get better.
Source: http://www.unilad.co.uk/drugs/ireland-moves-to-decriminalise-drugs-for-personal-use/
Photo: itv.com