After decades of trying to suppress drug supply and prevent addicts from using illegal substances, Ireland may soon set up rooms where drug users can inject themselves with these prohibited chemicals.
In an address during the London School of Economics IDEAS Forum, Ireland's National Drug Safety Minister Aodhán Ó Ríordáin proposed radical changes to the government's approach in fighting drug abuse in the nation.
"Drug addiction affects all demographics; rich and poor as well as young and old. Often there can be an intergenerational cycle of alcohol and drug misuse where young people's attitudes are not only influenced by their peers, but also coloured by the behaviour and attitudes of an older generation," the Irish official said.
"I am firmly of the view that there needs to be a cultural shift in how we regard substance misuse, if we are to break this cycle and make a serious attempt to tackle drug and alcohol addiction," he added.
One of these changes include putting up medically supervised injecting centres for intravenous drug users, in an attempt to minimise street injecting, which causes the spread of blood-borne diseases, including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).
"These facilities have been shown to be effective in engaging difficult-to-reach populations of drug users. This is especially the case for marginalised groups, such as the homeless, and those who use drugs on the streets or in other risky and unhygienic conditions," Ó Ríordáin said in his speech.
The Irish official nevertheless clarified that the centres will not be "free for all."
"It is a clinical, controlled environment which aims to engage a hard to reach population of drug users and provide defined pathways to higher threshold treatment services such as medical and social interventions and counselling services," he explained.
In addition to these, Ó Ríordáin also pointed out that heroin is no longer the sole problem of the anti-drug agency. He said cannabis use in Ireland "has become more prevalent and is normalised in some communities."
