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Drugs task force says ‘decriminalising’ would send out wrong message

Decriminalising possession of drugs would send out a confusing message to vulnerable people, warned the Tallaght Drugs and Alcohol Task Force.

TDATF were responding to the Controlled Drugs and Harm Reduction Bill 2017, which was introduced last month by Independent Senator Lynn Ruane, and co-signed by former Minister of State Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, the Labour Party, Green Party and a number of other independent senators.

The Bill has been postponed pending the publication of the new National Drugs Strategy.

A former addiction programme developer and community worker in West Dublin, Senator Ruane said she has seen the “destructive impact of the criminalisation of drugs and how it has destroyed lives and communities.”