Irish officials
\nannounced on Aug. 2 that the nation would be taking a public health approach to
\nfirst and second offenses for the simple possession of small amounts of drugs. <\/p>\n
The plan was announced late last week<\/a> by Minister for Health Simon Harris, Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan and Minister of State Catherine Byrne. Byrne is also responsible for the nation\u2019s national drug strategy. While the three didn\u2019t completely see eye to eye on the details, they announced approval to develop a health-led approach. <\/p>\n \u201cThis is a very significant day. For far too long, we have only looked at drug use from a criminal justice perspective,\u201d Harris said in the statement. \u201cAddiction has impacted so many families and many communities. It is essential we look beyond the labels society forces on people with addiction, look to the person and how the system can help them.\u201d<\/p>\n Ireland<\/a> has been working on this plan since November 2015, when the then-Prime Minister Aodh\u00e1n \u00d3 R\u00edord\u00e1in announced that the country would take measures to decriminalize the possession of illegal drugs for personal use, in an attempt to combat the country\u2019s drug addiction problems.<\/p>\n According to a statement from Harris\u2019s office, there are two components to the new so-called \u201cHealth Diversion Approach.\u201d After the Garda (that\u2019s what the cops are called in Ireland) determine that the drugs they find are for personal use, offenders will be referred on a mandatory basis to the Health Service Executive for a screening and brief intervention. The second time, Garda will have the option to file a warning. Third time is where the criminal justice system starts to come into play again. And it\u2019s on this third offense that the consequences for cannabis possession get a little hazy. <\/p>\n With cannabis, it will be important how the Irish police count the first two offenses. The law that\u2019s still on the books governing cannabis in Ireland today is from the 1977 Misuse of Drugs Act<\/a>. Section 27 of the law stipulates that a first cannabis possession offense warrants a fine of 50 pounds (now converted to euros) and a second offense means a fine of 100 pounds. On the third offense, the person faces a fine \u201cnot exceeding two hundred and fifty pounds or, at the discretion of the court, imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months, or both the fine and the imprisonment.\u201d<\/p>\n But under the new \u201cToday is the start of a Not everyone is satisfied with how far the plan goes in decriminalizing drugs. Among them is Gino Kenny, who has led the fight for medical cannabis in Ireland since being elected a member of the lower house of Ireland\u2019s Parliament, D\u00e1il \u00c9ireann, in 2016. After years under heavy pressure from Kenny and families across Ireland, Harris signed a five-year pilot program for medical cannabis in Ireland earlier this summer<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cWhile I welcome the Kenny went on to note it Kenny says he wants an \u201cIt is progress, but it should go further if we are to stay in line with the global move towards a health-led approach to drug use and misuse,\u201d Kenny said. \u201cI am also calling for the expungement of prior convictions for personal possession so that everyone can now be included in this new process and avail of the benefits of a more health-led approach. It would be completely unjust to exclude those with prior convictions.\u201d<\/p>\n TELL US,<\/strong> The post Ireland Partially Decriminalizes All Drugs<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Irish officials announced on Aug. 2 that the nation would be taking a public health approach to first and second offenses for the simple possession of small amounts of drugs. The plan was announced late last week by Minister for Health Simon Harris, Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan and MinisterContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,94,490,2650,90,415],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37361"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37361"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37362,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37361\/revisions\/37362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How Cannabis Possession Will Be Punished in Ireland<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nhealth-focused plan, it\u2019s not clear if people caught with personal amounts of
\ncannabis will be charged the first and second fines or not. Will the fines only
\nkick in after the third offense? Will the fines be dropped in favor of the
\nHealth Diversion Approach, still leading to that possible year in jail on the
\nthird offense? From the early going, it looks like the new law would supercede
\npast stuff. <\/p>\n
\nnew approach,\u201d Harris said. \u201cOne that offers people a helping hand, not
\nhandcuffs. One that offers a person a second chance. I strongly believe this
\nwill help us battle drug addiction and ultimately save lives.\u201d<\/p>\nIreland Continues to Push for Medical Cannabis <\/strong><\/h4>\n
\npolicy of diverting those caught in possession of drugs for personal use into
\nthe health system rather than the criminal justice system, I believe that
\nlimiting it to the first offense is effectively a halfway house rather than the
\nfull decriminalization that is warranted,\u201d Kenny said in a statement to
\nsupporters on Facebook. \u201cIf we truly want to address drug use and addiction in
\nsociety, we must adopt a progressive policy of a committed health-led approach
\nrather than criminalizing people who need help rather than a prison sentence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nmakes sense the law would mandate the health evaluation for harder drugs, but \u201creferring
\nindividuals to the [Health Service Executive] for small amounts of cannabis,
\nhowever, can only help clog up an already stretched service and would quickly
\nbecome inoperable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nexplanation of why full decriminalization wasn\u2019t possible. <\/p>\n
\ndo you think the United States should decriminalize all drugs?<\/p>\n
\n
\nRead More: Ireland Partially Decriminalizes All Drugs<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"