<story><title>Ireland to &apos;decriminalise&apos; small amounts of drugs for personal use</title><url>http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ireland-to-decriminalise-small-amounts-of-drugs-including-heroin-cocaine-and-cannabis-for-personal-a6719136.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>bovermyer</author><text>Ignoring the quality of the article, I am struck by one thing.&lt;p&gt;Why has Ireland all of a sudden taken such a progressive shift? First national recognition of gay marriage, now this?&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m loving it, wherever it came from.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>anigbrowl</author><text>Irish guy here (although I live in California now).  Demographics, mass abandonment of the Catholic church in recent years (not least due to sex scandals, and the bruising effects of the global financial crisis, which has led to a more pragmatic assessment of priorities.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m very happy about it too. While I&amp;#x27;m not in any rush to head home to the inclement Irish weather it feels like a great validation to see this tide of social liberalization. I was born in 1970 and grew up in a country where divorce was illegal, corporal punishment in schools was legal (and liberally dispensed), and drug use was presented as a moral&amp;#x2F;class failing. Growing up in a violent household in a country where family life was reified, I fled to the UK as soon as I was old enough to leave home and have rarely been back since. Maybe I should start planning a holiday.</text></comment>
<story><title>Ireland to &apos;decriminalise&apos; small amounts of drugs for personal use</title><url>http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ireland-to-decriminalise-small-amounts-of-drugs-including-heroin-cocaine-and-cannabis-for-personal-a6719136.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>bovermyer</author><text>Ignoring the quality of the article, I am struck by one thing.&lt;p&gt;Why has Ireland all of a sudden taken such a progressive shift? First national recognition of gay marriage, now this?&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m loving it, wherever it came from.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>gearoidoc</author><text>Irishman here - living in Canada nearly two years now.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s not very sudden to be honest - changes like the Marriage Equality Act have been wanted by a lot of people for a long time.&lt;p&gt;The criminalisation of drug use clearly doesnt work the entire world over. In Ireland, especially Dublin, it&amp;#x27;s not unusual to see a heroin addict shooting up on public transport.&lt;p&gt;I honestly feel that Irish people are in general a fairly liberal bunch. It can&amp;#x27;t be emphasised enough how much the Catholic Church held the country back. I don&amp;#x27;t think non-Irish people will understand just how high esteem (read: fear) that we held the institution in.&lt;p&gt;All we need now is to remove religion (not necessarily the teachings but rather the role the Church plays) from the eductation system and we&amp;#x27;ll really be getting somewhere.</text></comment>