"That 'free' bag of drugs will be the costliest thing you will ever get".
That's the warning to young people from Aontú Senator Sarah O' Reilly who has spoken of her worry and deep fear for young people when they are out and about socialising in the region such is the proliferation of drugs in the constituency of Cavan/Monaghan.
She says there isn't a village in the area that is immune to the scourge of drugs, adding that like all parents she is really worried about young people who are trying to find their way as they are so vulnerable to the huge peer pressure to try drugs.
Senator O'Reilly says drugs are normalised to the same extent as alcohol in some places and this is deadly dangerous. In the past ten years there have been over 11,000 arrests for drug offences across counties Cavan, Monaghan and Louth. The figures, released to Aontú under a Parliamentary Question show that drug arrests peaked in my constituency in 2020, and have dropped off since then.
The Co Cavan senator says she's not sure if any country has really cracked the drug problem - either through decriminalisation or otherwise.
Senator O'Reilly says harsher sentences for those dealing drugs is needed. "We urgently need to educate our youth on the horrific process of drug production and sale. The chain of crime, the torture, the murders and the lives ruined along the way are all part of the chain of death that goes towards the production of those little bags of drugs people are offered on nights out. So often young people are offered them for free , to try them but that 'free bag of drugs' will be the costliest thing they will ever take.
"We all know the horrific tales of families who are targeted to pay off the drug debts of their sons and daughters' drug debts.
"In some cases, there are young people who have emigrated without paying their debts and their grandparents are being burgled as a means of recouping the debt. It's a horrific situation and it's gone out of control. It's a debt that often people pay with their lives." Legalising drugs is not the answer, and I hope we can debate the matter thoroughly in this house and review all the international evidence for ourselves. "
