Students for Sensible Drug Policy Ireland (SSDP) have announced that they will hold their second annual conference in DCU this year.
The student-run organisation, which aims to end “the failed, disastrously ineffective and counter-productive war on drugs”, will hold its conference on the 2nd of April at 5 pm in The Helix.
Some of the speakers set to appear at the event are Senator James Heffernan, Garda whistleblower, John Wilson and Councillor Karl Gill.
Drug legalisation and regulation, the criminalisation of drug users and drug education are among the many topics wh
SSDP stress that they do not condone or support the use of recreational drugs but rather believe that with a well thought out regulatory network and satisfactory manufacturing practices, drug users would have access to a safer product which could be overseen and monitored.
Graham De Barra, spokesperson with SSDP, says that the Irish attitude towards drugs and alcohol needs to change and that they should both be considered under one label.
“Governments often talk about drugs and alcohol as if they were mutually exclusive. They’re all drugs, illegal and legal. Even coffee, which is a substance that many people crave in the morning and throughout the day, is a drug.”
De Barra has openly criticised the Government’s “blotched attempts” at prohibiting drug use in Ireland.
“Over the last 40 years of drug prohibition, we have criminalised over 36 million people just for cannabis alone. In Ireland this figure is over 100,000 people over the last 10 years. That’s a lot of resources to be taking away from the Gardaí, with little to zero impact on the cannabis trade.”
Elaine Carroll
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