Drug use is a constant feature in the media. This month alone, there have been reports of students being hospitalised after consuming LSD and amphetamines, deaths linked to PMMA and problems of unsafe disposal and public drug use in Dublin city centre. Such stories are recurring; it’s clear that our current policy approach to drugs is not having the intended effect – but there are alternatives.

A good starting point is to consider what is currently being done from a policy perspective. Like most countries, Ireland’s drug policy is guided by the three international conventions on narcotics which have set the global policy agenda since the 1960s. Ireland is a signatory to these treaties, and we are bound by them. The conventions create the basic framework within which signatories must work, and they establish a generally restrictive policy approach.....