The draft National Drugs Strategy has been described as "fundamentally flawed" by a number of groups representing people who use drugs, as well as communities and families that are affected by drug use.
The 2026-2029 draft National Drugs Strategy was published by Minister Jennifer Murnane O'Connor last month.
The document was informed by trends in drug and harmful alcohol use, the recommendations of the Citizens’ Assembly on Drug Use, the previous drugs strategy and the views of stakeholders, including Oireachtas committees.
However, Citywide, Family Addiction Recovery Ireland (FARI) and UISCE, who took part in the Citizens' Assembly on Drugs Use and have been before Oireachtas Committees; have said the proposed strategy has failed to reference the link between poverty, inequality and drug-related harms.
In a joint statement, the national community networks they said there was a series of "inappropriate and damaging assumptions" about how the next drugs strategy should be implemented.
There are five pillars in the plan including protection from harm, provision of quality treatment services, promotion of recovery, prioritisation of health supports over criminal sanctions, and preparedness for global drug threats.
Citywide acknowledged the wider level of drug use across society; however, it pointed out that the worst impact of drug-related harm continued to be in the most disadvantaged and marginalised communities.
Co-ordinator Anna Quigley said the voice of communities most affected by drugs had been written out of the strategy.
A search by RTÉ News for the words 'disadvantaged', 'marginalised', inequality' and 'poverty' in the draft document resulted in one result for 'disadvantaged'.
According to Ms Quigley, there has been a failure to recognise or acknowledge "the unique and essential role" of Community Drug Projects on-the-ground, delivering "targeted supports and interventions" in communities, "working in collaboration with a wide range of statutory agencies and voluntary partners".
"...the future role of the Drug and Alcohol Task Forces is to be determined by the HSE on the basis of what kind of structure best suits the HSE’s own requirements, rather than the needs of our communities," she said.
Ms Quigley added that the departments of Health and Justice were working on details of a Health Diversion Approach "without any formal engagement" with representative voices of people who use drugs.
'A cycle of dependency'
The draft strategy states that individuals from frontline drug and alcohol services, community and voluntary organisations, and representatives from across the country formed a reference group to help shape the document.
Citywide, Family Addiction Recovery Ireland (FARI) and UISCE were not part of the reference group.
FARI’s Mick Mason said that the experience of families also needed to be heard and understood.
"The cost of a family member’s addiction impacts basic needs, creating a cycle of dependency that families struggle to escape. Family members consistently identified fear as a shared trauma response," he said.
Andy O’Hara of UISCE described the draft strategy as treating people who use drugs "as mere service users", whereas he said the users were "citizens, parents, workers, and members of our communities who deserve to be treated with dignity and to have a real say in the policies that affect their lives".
He said drugs misuse needed to be a policy priority as part of an overall socio-economic strategy with oversight at the highest level through a Cabinet Sub-Committee.
11,086 people were recorded to have died from drug-related causes in the period 2004-2020, according to data from the Health Research Board.
Between 2017 and 2024, drug-related public expenditure increased by 40% and expenditure by the HSE in this area grew by 44% in that period.
