“You’re talking about cannabis now? “I’m talking about everything.” “Oh, everything?” “Everything, Mary.”
Aslan singer Christy Dignam expressed his opinion that drugs should be decriminalised in Ireland during an appearance on Brendan O’Connor’s Cutting Edge on Wednesday night.
Dignam, who struggled with drug addiction throughout his career, made the point that despite spending trillions, the US government has failed in its attempts to battle the drug problem in America and that there are drugs in Portlaoise prison despite it being a maximum security facility.
Asked by Brendan O’Connor whether decriminalisation sends out a message that it’s OK to do drugs, Dignam replied: “I’m not saying it’s OK, what I’m saying is… the point I was trying to make about Portlaoise prison and all that is, we’re not going to stop it. Do you know what I mean? It’s not going to be stopped.
Christy Dignam on why he thinks drugs should be decriminalised. #CuttingEdge is live now. pic.twitter.com/ISU3ovK2FO
— Cutting Edge (@CuttingEdgeRTE) March 21, 2018
“We’re being very naïve if we think that. So, let’s just face the facts that it’s there and it’s not going anywhere. So let’s have it out in the light and in the open and get the thing regulated that we know what we’re doing, we know what we’re dealing with, even the criminal end of it.”
Dignam also spoke about his own experience of drugs and while it’s a very serious issue, the segment is worth watching for the humorous exchange between Dignam and O’Rourke referenced at the top of the page.
You can catch Brendan O’Connor’s Cutting Edge on the RTÉ Player here.
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