Since he took office last month, there has been much commentary about whether our new taoiseach is a leader with more style than substance. On Monday, however, we were given a glimpse of how the latter may emerge when Mr Varadkar unveiled the state’s new strategy on drug and alcohol use.
The eight-year plan indicates an enlightened approach to the pervasive problems of addiction, and contains many admirable measures including a commitment for a pilot injecting room for heroin users in Dublin, better help for pregnant women suffering substance abuse, more detox beds and increased testing of drugs.
Most significantly, in a radical shift in the state’s attitude in dealing with addiction, possession of drugs including heroin, cocaine and cannabis for personal use could be decriminalised. The proposals also indicate a marked change in direction, with many aimed at communities and age groups that are particularly vulnerable to drug abuse, including plans to identify and help the children of addicts from avoiding following their parents into drug dependency or mental health issues.
These sweeping initiatives have been broadly welcomed by groups working with drug and alcohol addiction, and rightly so. As the taoiseach pointed out at the launch of the Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery report in Dublin Castle, there were 697 drug-related deaths in Ireland during 2014, which was three times the number of road fatalities and 12 times the number of recorded murders.
The figures relating to alcohol abuse are even more stark. Even though our consumption of alcohol per capita has declined by 24 per cent in the past 12 years, placing us 18th in the EU, the statistics are still grim. Alcohol misuse is costing the state anything up to €2.3 billion a year and the HSE up to 1,500 hospital beds a night, and three people die each day due to alcohol-related illnesses.
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At the launch, Mr Varadkar described alcohol as “the main drug of abuse in Ireland”, adding: “We need to face up to that as a society. The solution is not prohibition, the solution is denormalisation.”
But in “denormalising” alcohol, the taoiseach will meet with resistance from the powerful drink industry whose vigorous lobbying of politicians has impeded the passage of the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill through the Oireachtas. He will have to face down this formidable sector as he has pledged that the Bill — which proposes to place restrictions on the sale of alcohol, separate it from other products in retail outlets, and limit advertising — will become law before the end of the year.
While the report is a promising and hitherto uncharacteristic display of governmental joined-up thinking, it is important that even more dots are connected. Akin to Tony Blair’s “tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime” strategy, for these proposals to be truly effective the causes of drug and alcohol abuse must also be tackled.
Drugs take particular hold in inner-city communities and rural towns which have been decimated by the recession or which were simply neglected during the boom. Families have become enmeshed in intergenerational welfare, and left to drift without either support or hope to help them escape the poverty trap. This report must be rolled out shoulder-to-shoulder with inner-city and rural regeneration initiatives.
Most importantly, the electorate is understandably wary of strategy launches which then proceed to go nowhere, or quietly vanish. It is crucial that firm deadlines are put in place and tangible commitments made, and that financial provision for their implementation is included in the autumn budget.
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If Mr Varadkar succeeds in implementing this far-reaching and compassionate strategy, then it will be a substantial achievement indeed.