The Citizens assembly has 36 recommendations for the Oireachtas.
Prof. Jo-Hanna Ivers talks through how drug use echoes through society, touching not only individuals but families and communities. Photo via The Citizen's Assembly on Twitter.Voting in the Citizens Assembly on Drugs has come to a close.
Members are calling for the State to expand treatment funding to support people in recovery and their families.
A final report is to be written, with 36 recommendations to be sent to the Oireachtas.
The Assembly has focused on funding, resources, and transparency of expenditure on drug-related services.
The recommendations also include a call on the State to fund a significant increase in prison-based addiction treatment services.
Increasing staff for these services is also being requested.
As well as that, the group want the State to replace custodial sentences for people with problematic drugs use with community-based and residential treatment and recovery services.
Assembly members have voted to recommend the implementation of mandatory basic training for key personnel in education, health and social care services on problem-solving responses to drug addiction.
A member of the Assembly says a drug prevention strategy for school children would be beneficial to all:
'There's a belief that young people pay better attention when there's a new model in front of them, so the experts come in."
"They are only coming in to deliver, they're also empowering the teachers in the subject matter as the drugs process in Ireland."
