Ireland - Lenihan rejects festival drugs proposal (Ireland)

[Lunar Loops]

No surprise here, Lenihan was always going to tow a hard line on this one, but it gives you an idea of what we're up against if we want to attempt to instigate change. Pity this government are not as robust when it comes to other matters of legality and their own party members.

This piece from the Irish Examiner:

Lenihan rejects festival drugs proposal

By Cormac O’Keeffe
JUSTICE Minister Brian Lenihan yesterday firmly rejected a call from a respected drug counselling service that people caught with small amounts of cannabis and other drugs at festivals should not be prosecuted.

The call was made by Crosscare, a Catholic drug counselling agency attached to the Dublin Archdiocese, on the eve of an independent study into its service.

Crosscare is recommending that people caught by gardaí smoking a cannabis joint or with very small amounts of other drugs at concerts like Oxegen and Electric Picnic be referred to drug professionals for assessment. The body said counselling time, police time and court time was being “wasted” by putting such users through the criminal justice system.

Mr Lenihan emphatically rejected such calls. From Brussels, he said: “That would amount to the legalisation of cannabis in a sense. It is a criminal offence and the Government has no plans to legalise drug possession.

“Drug misuse a very serious problem, we can’t let any message go out to the contrary. Possession of any drug taken is a very serious matter and people should face repercussions for possession of such substances.”

He said the courts have power not to impose a criminal record on a defendant and could refer them to the Probation Service.

Crosscare co-ordinator Michael McDonagh said they were not calling for cannabis use to be decriminalised as such, but for gardaí to be given the option to divert users caught at concert festivals to a professional rather than arrest them.

“Every year after events like Oxegen and Electric Picnic hundreds of young people access our services looking to talk to a counsellor. These young people have gone to a concert and been caught maybe smoking a joint or with a very, very small amount of a substance and what happens? They are told they have a court date pending.

“They then contact a solicitor and are advised by the solicitor, or when they get to court, that they need to have counselling in relation to substance misuse. This is wholly inappropriate. These people don’t have an addiction, they’ve experimented with a substance.”

Mr McDonagh said in a number of countries, including England and Australia, they set up a point of referral at concerts.

He said gardaí currently don’t have any discretion in relation to drugs.

“A lot of guards feel their hands are tied and they have to be seen to be hard and process them through the courts.”

Mr McDonagh said the system was putting serious pressure on otherwise young law abiding people.

“A lot of them would have just sat their Leaving Cert, and are under quite a lot of pressure. This might be an occasion to blow off some steam. Most have never dealt with guards or the courts before.”