31st July 2012
In a recent article in the Irish Examiner ('Time to change policy on drug use', 31st July 2012), Kasia Malinowksa-Sempruch, director of Open Society Foundations global drug policy programme, questioned current drug policy in Ireland. Ireland has nine times (45 deaths per million residents) as many drug-induced deaths than Portugal and the Netherlands, both of which have decriminalised drug possession and use. Shifting the approach to drug possession from criminal justice to public health, Portugal has also experienced reductions in the numbers of new transmissions of HIV among drug users who inject.
Read more:
Respect for rights in the penal system with prison as a last resort.