Inspiring Short Film on Ireland’s Health Led Approach to Drugs Use

In June 2023, Drugreporter visited Dublin where they interviewed key experts about Ireland’s drug policy developments. Through the resulting film, you can get to know the Ana Liffey Drug Project, a leading low-threshold harm reduction program in downtown Dublin, and learn about key issues of drug policy in Ireland through the lens of experts. The film also introduces the work of the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use.

“The Citizens’ Assembly members worked hard and were engaged in a subject well known as a complex multifaceted policy topic. Theirs was an unprecedented effort of deliberative democracy by 99 citizens, supported by an independent Chairperson and a government secretariat, to consider the attendant issues related to drugs use in Ireland and to make recommendations to the Government.” (Tony Duffin, the CEO of Ana Liffey Drug Project)

To complement the film, Tony Duffin, CEO of Ana Liffey, shares a thought-provoking reflection on Ireland’s Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use. Dive deeper into the assembly’s recommendations and the transformative potential they hold in steering Ireland’s drug policies towards a more progressive, health-driven direction in the article on Drugreporter’s website.

The interviewed experts in the film are: Francesca Osborne, Saoirse Aitken, Tony Duffin, Damien Gagnevin (Ana Liffey Drug Project), Jim Walsh (Drugs Policy and Social Inclusion Unit Department of Health), Andy O’Hara (UISCE Advocacy Service for People who use Drugs in Ireland), Anna Quigley (CityWide Drugs Crisis Campaign), Stacey Lyons (National Voluntary Drug and Alcohol Sector).

The production of the video has been co-funded by the European Union.

Source: C-EHRN