Health Referral Scheme 'insulting' to those in addiction

The lack of staffing resources provided to the Government's new Health Referral Scheme is "insulting to people who are in addiction", according to Dr Sharon Lambert, Senior Lecturer in Applied Psychology at University College Cork (UCC).

The scheme, which came into effect on 1 September, grants gardaí the discretion to refer eligible first-time offenders to health services, rather than to the criminal justice system.

However, Dr Lambert said that the amount of staff assigned to the scheme - nine across the entire country - was completely inadequate. The number was confirmed by Professor Eamon Keenan, HSE Clinical Lead on Addiction Services in an interview with Morning Ireland on 1 September.

"If you looked at all the counties in Munster, you'd need several in Cork alone. I don't know how you would begin to think about nine in Dublin," she said.

She said that the lack of staff will undermine any potential health-led approach which the scheme can take. For any scheme to take a health-led approach, it needs to work properly and have clear parameters, which she said are not present.

Role of gardaí

She also criticised the continued role which An Garda Síochána will play in the scheme. Gardaí will be carrying out the role of referring eligible first offenders to health services, but Dr Lambert said that they are unsuited for this responsibility.

"An Garda Síochána are not addiction counsellors, they are not drug workers, they are justice system employees," she said.

The role of gardaí in the scheme ensures that the criminal justice system continues to play a role in drug policy, which is not in keeping with a health-led approach.

"I struggle to see how these policies are health-led. It feels like an attempt to envision some kind of health-led approach, but it is not getting there at all," she said.

Decriminalisation for personal possession

The key to a health-led approach, said Dr Lambert, was the decriminalisation of drugs for personal possession. Convictions for the possession of drugs have lifelong effects on those who receive them, such as restricting future job prospects.

However, Dr Lambert stressed that addiction to drugs is not an issue of criminality but of mental health. "I can't think of another mental health issue where you're punished for your whole life for experiencing it, and that's what happens with people in addiction.

"The decriminalisation of drugs is a very important health-led approach because it moves addiction from the criminal justice system into the health system," she said.

The same opinion was expressed by the Oireachtas Committee on Drug Use.

In its final report - which was produced following two years of research - the committee recommended that section three of the Misuse of Drugs Act, 1977, which made it a criminal offence to be found in the possession of drugs for personal use, be repealed.

However, this was recommendation was ultimately rejected by the Government.

In a comment provided to the Cork Independent, a spokesperson for the Department of Health said that the recommendations on decriminalisation of drugs and the amendment of the Misuse of Drugs Act are not in line with current Government policy.

Dr Lambert said that this was not in line with the body of evidence produced by researchers in the field, and that this is what should drive public policy. "Drug policy should not be based on what the Government thinks. Drug policy should be based on what the research and the evidence says.

"And the evidence and multiple reports from the Government which have come out have said that section three of the Misuse of Drugs Act should be repealed to fully decriminalise personal possession," she said.

This article was produced with the support of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme funded by Coimisiún na Meán.