Donnacha O’Beachain

Yeah, and though I heard this morning that that recommendation may not be implemented, it seems to be having difficulty getting through, I think, the legislature.

It has been tried elsewhere.

I mean, in Portugal, from 2001, they've decriminalized possession for personal use, which is, I think, enough for 10 days.

They're still very – and I think sometimes there are misperceptions around this.

They're still very strong on going after people who are involved in the procurement, the supply, traffickers.

That's all there.

And it doesn't mean that people can shoot up in the middle of the street.

It's still a violation.

It's an administrative violation.

It's just not a criminal offense.

You don't get a criminal record.

And I think the attitude is that, look – and I heard a conversation earlier in the show where you were talking about the term junkie and whether people really choose junkies.

to become drug addicts.

I mean, we have a very high tolerance towards alcohol in this country, and we treat alcoholism not as an addiction of choice, we treat it as a medical condition in which people need help and people need to be intervened.

So I think it's the same approach here about drugs, that people need help.

And this is the challenge, and Shona hinted at it there, is that if you decriminalize it, you should be then shepherding people when you find them misusing drugs to help.

But do we have the resources?

And the fear is, is that the resources that we have could be overwhelmed if we started having more drug use in the open and then didn't have the resources to help the people.

Yeah, I listened to Fionn Davenport's contribution and the person after him, and they were both on the same page.

I'm not from Dublin, but I've moved to Dublin.