Fine Gael’s supposed decriminalisation of drugs policies have been criticised by Labour as letting middle class drug users off the hook.
Aodhán Ó Ríordáin said the Government party is ignoring drug addicts’ problems while going easy on casual drug users.
He said that the deaths of heroin users in shopping centre or train station toilets are not taken seriously, while high profile deaths at music festivals grab all the headlines.
The former junior minister with special responsibility for drugs also said that he believes the policies are veering into “US Republican territory.”
Fine Gael’s minister with special responsibility for drugs, Catherine Byrne, revealed new plans for handling the drugs scourge earlier this month.
It involves policing drugs possession through a ‘three strikes and you’re out’ policy.
This allows the first two offences to be ignored, but it then criminalises users when they’re caught a third time.
Mr Ó Ríordáin believes this is the wrong approach as it still makes criminals out of users who are clearly addicts if they are caught a third time.
He told reporters on the Plinth in Leinster House yesterday that he thinks this is the wrong approach to take.
