Families call for urgent response to drugs crisis

Families impacted by drug use and their supporters gathered outside Leinster House on Tuesday to highlight the need for an urgent response to the drugs crisis.

They also called on Government to make the work of the Oireachtas Committee on Drugs Use a major priority during the rest of this Dáil term.

Recent figures show Ireland has the highest rate of drug overdose deaths in the EU and around 800 people are dying every year in Ireland from drug-related causes.

Every one of these people is a person who is very much loved and very much missed.

Aileen Malone is one of the family members who spoke at the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs last year:

“Every life lost is a real person with family and friends who are left devastated by their death.

“The grief after a drug death is lasting and profound.

“It is complicated grief that is extraordinarily difficult for those left behind.

“And always the wondering, could things have been different?

“We are a small number of families here outside Leinster House today but we are here on behalf of the many thousands of families across the country who feel they cannot speak openly about their loved ones’ drug use because of the blame, shame and stigma that goes with it.

“After so many years of needless pain, grief and suffering due to failed drug policies, the work of the Oireachtas Committee on Drugs Use must now mark a turning point where we end the blame, shame and stigma and introduce policies that work.”

Aileen Malone explained that the Oireachtas Committee is currently considering how to implement the recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs and families who spoke at the Assembly highlighted the need to end the criminalisation of their loved ones and to invest in the services that can provide the support and care that they need.

“There was also unanimous support at the Assembly for the importance of having a strong voice for families at a national policy level and this is something that the Government can act on now without any further delay,” Aileen Malone said.

According to Breda Fell from the National Family Support Network Steering Group:

“For many years families were included as partners on the committees for the national drugs strategy, but we are no longer included.

“It is crucial that the voice of families is heard loud and clear at the policy table and this change needs to happen straight away.

“Our current drugs policies have cost us way too many lives, way too many people taken from their families and loved ones, often at a young age.

“Way too many people have been left to live with the pain, grief and loss through deaths that should never have happened.

“Policies that work are policies that save lives – Government must now commit to ensuring these policy reforms are agreed and adopted during the lifetime of this Government marking a fundamental shift in how we as a society respond to people who use drugs,” Breda Fell concluded.