The President of the Irish Pharmacy Union made the claim on Sunday at the organisation's national conference.
The decriminalisation of possession when it comes to small amounts of drugs is essential in Ireland, according to Daragh Connolly, head of the Irish Pharmacy Union.
Connolly insisted that those with drug dependency issues should be treated the same way as those suffering with other health issues, a motion that was adopted by the conference.
Connolly, who is a community pharmacist in Dungarvan, County Waterford, said that “addressing the drug problem in Ireland is a balancing act between preventing illicit use of drugs and associated health problems and ensuring access to treatment for those addicted to drugs.
"The World Health Organisation has acknowledged that people with drug disorders deserve the same level of care as patients with any other health condition. Health services need to be able to identify drug use and drug use disorders at an early stage and provide prevention, treatment and harm reduction interventions.”
He also welcomed the recent enactment of the Misuse of Drugs (Supervised Injecting Facilities) Act to provide for the establishment, licensing, operation and regulation of supervised injecting facilities for the purposes of reducing harm to people who inject drugs; to enhance the dignity, health and well-being of people who inject drugs in public places; to reduce the incidence of drug injection and drug-related litter in public places and, thereby, to enhance the public amenity for the wider community.
“Pharmacists should be at the vanguard of this changing approach. We already provide opiate substitution using methadone; we provide needle exchange services in areas of need; we provide a crucial point of contact with healthcare for those whose problems have made them outsiders in our society. We want to do more,” he said.
Kathy Maher, former IPU President and a community pharmacist in Duleek, Co Meath, said that Ireland should look to the example set in Portugal, where a similar initiative has seen massive health benefits for people living with addiction.
She said that Portugal had adopted this policy 15 years ago and the country “has seen the harm reducing benefits of this approach, such as an increase in the numbers of people who misuse drugs seeking help for their addiction, a fall in the number of HIV/AIDS cases and significant savings in law enforcement and court service resources.
"While it is still an offence in Portugal to possess illegal drugs, if the person is found with 10 days’ supply or less for personal use, they can be required to report to a Committee for Addiction Dissuasion, where an assessment is carried out and education/treatment provided or, in some cases, a return to the criminal justice system can result.”
