Labour TD Aodhán Ó Ríordáin is the latest Irish politician to admit using drugs but the only one who didn't break the law to do so. Speaking after his new role of Minister of State with responsibility for Drug Strategy was added to his portfolio, he said he dabbled with drugs once while a student.
"I didn't break the law. I was a student, I was in Amsterdam, it was the weekend. I am not a smoker. I do what most students do," he said.
Mr Ó Ríordáin joins a number of other high-profile politicians who have also conceded to using drugs, namely cannabis. Back in 2007, then Finance Minister Brian Cowen was dubbed "Biffo Spliffo" after he admitted using the drug during his student days.
"Anyone who went to the UCD bar in the 70s that didn't get a whiff of marijuana would be telling you a lie. There were a couple of occasions when it was passed around and unlike President Clinton, I did inhale," he said.
That same year, former Education Minister Ruairi Quinn admitted he too had "tasted the drug" and had taken a "puff of it" but "never did anything verbally", whatever that means. Meanwhile, in 2011, Health Minister Leo Varadkar said he "did a bit in my college years but not since I've held elected office".
It's easy for these politicians to recall, with fondness, their heady student days when cannabis was a staple at every college party, because they never suffered the legal consequences of their actions - they were never caught. Despite this, they seem unable to see the glaring contradiction in reminiscing about their halcyon joint-smoking student days while simultaneously supporting a draconian policy of criminalising others for behaviour they themselves engaged in.
Mr Varadkar's drug use, for example, never threatened his medical career, unlike a young doctor who appeared before the district court last year after he was caught with a small amount of cannabis in Dublin. His employer, a city hospital, found out about the prosecution after receiving an anonymous email and he was suspended pending the verdict of the case. Ultimately, the judge recognised the arrest was an aberration and ordered him to pay €10,000 to charity to avoid a criminal conviction, which would have destroyed his career before it had ever really begun.
Tens of thousands of others have suffered similar fates, hauled before courts after being found with small amounts of cannabis, but most don't have a good lawyer who can plead their case and get them out of a conviction - meaning it's predominantly people from disadvantaged backgrounds who suffer the most punitive consequences.
In 2013, more than 14,000 people appeared before district courts around the country charged with drug offences. Most of these will have been young men who have been caught with a small amount and find themselves, many for the first time, in an unfamiliar court setting, unsure of what to do.
Because most of those on petty drug charges are not in danger of a custodial sentence, there is no automatic entitlement to legal aid. So, many of them, when called by the judge, simply plead guilty without attempting to convince the court that they should be offered the benefit of a second chance by way of the probation act.
Source: Collette Browne, Irish Independent, 28/04/15
Safer Student Nights
eBulletin
Poll
