Time to weigh up the evidence when drafting policies on drink and drugs

VOICE OF EXPERIENCE: We should look at the facts available rather than our moral intuition when dealing with the consumption of drink and drugs, writes RICHARD MacCARTHY

MANY OF us have wondered how the economists, governments and bankers did not learn from past recessions and were unable to foresee our current crisis. Others admonish the UK and the United States for not learning from their experiences in Vietnam and Northern Ireland while they continue to attempt to forcefully bring peace to Afghanistan.

I have no doubt that Ireland is failing to learn from the past and from the experiences of other countries on the issue of illegal drug use.

I have just completed a philosophy MA and since I have been in college, I have worked as a nightclub bouncer, a head shop cashier and am now currently employed in a well-respected family off-licence. I find myself oddly placed, insofar as I must be one of the few people in the country to have witnessed the effects of alcohol and the so-called legal highs from a neutral perspective.

Time to weigh up the evidence when drafting policies on drink and drugs

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