Citizen’s Assembly on drug use to begin this weekend in Malahide

The Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use will hold its inaugural meeting this weekend at The Grand Hotel in Malahide.

The 100 members of the assembly will hear from a wide range of national and international speakers on the various and “complex issues surrounding drugs use and drugs policy,” says the organisers.

The Assembly, that was established following a resolution of Dail Éireann in February this year, will meet under Chairman Paul Reid who will formally open proceedings with a keynote address to the 99 other members who have been randomly selected to participate following the issuing of 20,000 invitations to households around the country.

Reid will address the terms of reference for the Citizens’ Assembly that ask it to consider the legislative, policy, and operational changes the State could make to “significantly reduce the harmful impacts of illicit drugs on individuals, families, communities and wider society and to report to the Houses of the Oireachtas this year.”

In this regard the meeting will concentrate on providing members with an overview of how Citizens’ Assemblies operate and the growing role of deliberative democracy in national policy-making, before a series of introductory discussions on national drugs policy, current trends and patterns in drugs use, and international and European perspectives on drugs use and policies.

Saturday afternoon will include a special panel discussion chaired by broadcaster Dearbhail McDonald on a ‘person-centred perspective’ on drugs use.

This will include contributions from former Dublin GAA player and member of the Assembly’s Advisory Support Group, Philly McMahon, and Dr Sharon Lambert of UCC, Pauline McKeown CEO of drug treatment centre Coolmine, and Andy O’Hara Co-ordinator of Uisce, the national advocacy service for people who use drugs in Ireland.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, Chair Paul Reid, said that he was delighted to announce the establishment of a new ‘Lived Experience Group’ to work alongside the Assembly.

This group will work along with, and have representation on, the Advisory Support Group that was announced last month, specifically to ensure that the perspective of individuals and families with lived experience of, or impacted by, the use of drugs.

Reid also thanked the 99 other members of the Assembly and said he looked forward to working with them on the most ambitious and far-reaching discussion on drugs use and national drugs policy that has ever taken place in Ireland.

Reid said: “It is a privilege to Chair this Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use.

“I want to thank the other members for giving up their time and participating in this national discussion on this important issue. It is their Assembly, their voices and ultimately their decisions that will shape the outcome of this process.”