THIS SATURDAY MARKS the 49th anniversary of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 being signed into law by Ireland’s then President, Patrick Hillery. As I have written previously, the development of Ireland’s drug laws can be traced as far back as the late 1800s, but our modern drug legislation begins in earnest with the 1977 Act. This wasn’t a response to a perceived need, but was Ireland meeting UN treaty obligations?

Since its passage, the Act hasn’t been subject to significant amendment or updating, despite societal understandings of drug use, addiction and public health advancing significantly in the intervening decades.

Our drug laws still carry the mentality inherited from America’s ‘war on drugs’, shaming, stigmatising and criminalising people who use drugs, despite extensive evidence demonstrating it to be a failed experiment that has caused untold harm.

Knowing what we know now in terms of that harm, are we to assume that harm is the intent? I would like to believe not, which is why, nearly fifty years on, we must finally follow the evidence and unshackle ourselves from this damaging practice of punishing drug use.

2026 presents the State with a unique opportunity to address these failings and meaningfully reshape our drug policy to be health-led in both policy and practice. The development of the new National Drugs Strategy takes place against the backdrop of the 2023 Citizens’ Assembly on Drug Use, and ahead of the final report of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Drug Use. This has the potential to be a watershed moment in Irish drug policy, but early indications from a draft of the new National Drugs Strategy suggest that the Government does not intend to meet this moment.

The Citizens Assembly on Drug Use was described by its Chair, Paul Reid, as “the most extensive, engaged discussion on the issue of drug use that has ever been held in the history of the........

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