2024 Continuing the Conversation: The Future of Drugs Policy in Ireland
The ACJRD 27th Annual Conference entitled Continuing the Conversation - The future of Drugs Policy in Ireland, which took place on Friday, 12th June 2024, aimed to explore the rationale and implementation of Government Policy and the Citizens' Assembly Report recommendations in a multi-disciplinary manner.
Speakers presented their endeavours to balance the enforcement of relevant legal sanctions for the supply and use of illegal drugs, with a desire, through a welfare lens, to support non-criminogenic interventions of diversion, dissuasion, desistance and decriminalisation.
The topics addressed by a programme of plenary speakers and workshop presenters from within our jurisdiction and at European level included policing, intervention by the judiciary, care and after-care for prisoners, international decriminalisation policies, Citizens' Assembly views, integration of drug services with primary care services and the lived experience of drug users.
The conference report includes the following Plenary papers:
Official Launch of Conference - Address by Minister Colm Burke, Minister of State for Public Health, Wellbeing & the National Drugs Strategy
Balancing Policing of Organised Crime & Drug Decriminalisation Policies, Assistant Commissioner Justin Kelly, An Garda Síochána
The Drug Treatment Court, a Community Court in Action, Judge Patricia McNamara
A Comprehensive Care Model - Prisoner Rehabilitation & Reintegration, Dr. Emma Regan, Director of Care and Rehabilitation Irish Prison Services
An International Perspective on the Decriminalisation of Drugs – the Portuguese Experience, Captain Filipe Correia Paulino, Chief of the Information & Criminal Investigation Section, Portugal
The 5 Major Flaws in Current Drugs Policies – and How to Rectify Them, David Nutt, Prof. of Neuropsychopharmacology, Imperial College London
Recommendations to Balance Decriminalisation, Diversion & Dissuasion, Paul Reid, Chairperson of the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use
Balancing Precision with Momentum: Scientific Evidence and Youth Justice Reform in Ireland, Dr. Johnny Connolly, Research Evidence into Policy, Programmes and Practice (REPPP) project
Addiction, Drug Use, Crime & Recovery, Ger Redmond, ex-prisoner, now Professional Athlete
The report includes the following workshop summaries:
Session One: Support Services for Drug Addiction – The Status Quo
- Frontline Addiction and Rehabilitation Support with Effective Interagency Approach, Louise Mahoney, General Manager, Red Door Project and Peter Heeney, support staff with lived experience
- Support for those Experiencing Drug-related Intimidation & Violence, Kevin Byrne, Project Officer, Drug Related Intimidation & Violence Engagement (DRIVE)
- Interventions to Empower Families Impacted by Substance Misuse & Safe Injection Facilities, Eddie Mullins, CEO, Merchants Quay Ireland and Andy O’Hara, CEO of UISCE
Session Two: Prevention – Policies & Practice
- Giving Voice to Diversity in Criminological Research: ‘Nothing about Us without Us’, Dr. Richard Healy, Research Officer, Service Users Rights in Action (SURIA), who also has lived experience
- Women in Addiction, Issues of Domestic Violence and other Criminality, Rachel Fayne, Coordinator of the Davina Project (SAOL Project) and a participant with lived experience
Session Three: Moving Towards Decriminalisation & Desistance
- Supports, Programmes, Activities & Counselling, Orla Brennan, Supervisor of Pre-Release Programme at Wheatfield Prison with Ger Redmond
- Harms of Adolescent Alcohol and Drug Use: Links to Criminal Justice, Professor Andrew Percy, Professor of Quantitative Criminology, School of Social Science, Education and Social Work, Queen's University Belfast