Dublin footballer delivers heartfelt message about substance abuse

Dublin Football player Philly McMahon delivered a heartfelt message about his late brother at the Joint Protection Committee's (JPC) Annual Public Meeting last Monday in Newbridge Town Hall.

Philly told his own personal story about growing up in Ballymun, with a particular emphasis on his older brother John, who became addicted to heroin, and which sadly claimed his life at the young age of 31 in 2012.

Now around the same age as John was when he passed, Philly was invited to talk at the event hosted by the JPC on the topic of substance abuse.

Despite some jokes littered throughout his talk, especially at the very start by saying that he "would not be talking about Jim Gavin leaving Dublin team", the message of his story was quite a heart-wrenching one.

Philly relayed John's downward spiral, from when his brother first took heroin at the age of 14 to losing his job, becoming homeless and getting clean only to relapse again and suffer a fatal overdose.

Philly emphasised how Ireland's social class system was "created by us as a society" and called for change in drug laws and treatment, notably through decriminalisation.

"This is not the same as legalisation" Philly stressed. "This just means that addicts will be given a better chance to become rehabilitated, much like the system Portugal has".

The system that Philly is referring to means that addicts, rather than being arrested for drug charges, are instead given a warning, a small fine, or told to appear before a local commission – consisting of a doctor, a lawyer and a social worker – about treatment, harm reduction, and the support services that are available to them.

According to an article published in The Guardian in 2017, since this change, Portugal's opioid crisis soon stabilised, and the ensuing years saw dramatic drops in: problematic drug use, HIV and hepatitis infection rates, overdose deaths, drug-related crime and incarceration rates.

Philly added that he believes that this would also give Gardai more time to focus on tracking down and arresting drug dealers and suppliers instead.

"We don’t need more Gardai on the street. In fact, I think that it would actually make things worse".

"The three-strike rule doesn’t work for addicts. Prison doesn't work either. Making someone a criminal will not make them clean, it only isolates them further."

He also acknowledged that while drugs have crossed between social classes, he does feel that lower and middle-class people tended to gravitate towards drugs because they tend to be less educated and as a result more vulnerable and curious about taking Class-A drugs.

He also talked about his own charitable project, Half-Time Talk, and the work that they do for people struggling with mental health and/or addiction issues.

"The idea of a Half-Time Talk is to see what you can do differently and how to improve yourself from the first half of the game… because you don't know when your time is up, and my brother died at 31."

"He didn’t get a second chance. This is what Half-Time Talk is all about. We need to impact our culture from the ground-up, starting in primary schools".

"They need to see the pain and suffering that drugs cause" he added.

"Children need to be educated so that they can feel confident in turning down drugs and knowing that a lifestyle like that isn't what they want" he said.

"We will never win the war on drugs, but we can manage it and reduce the hold that drugs have on society".

Politicians in attendance on the night included councillors Chris Pender and Fiona McLoughlin-Healy, and TDs Martin Heydon and Fiona O'Loughlin.

Lisa Baggott of the South Western Regional Drug & Alcohol Task Force and Garda Superintendent John Scanlon also attended the meeting.

Supt. Scanlon delivered a presentation on crime and traffic statistics in Kildare for the third quarter of 2019, while Ms. Baggott also delivered a brief presentation on the work her Task Force, along with some related services, carry out in Kildare.

Members of the public and local politicians were invited to join a Question and Answer session after the presentations.

Ireland is in the middle of a surge in drug crime.

The Irish Times reported near the end of October that there has been a 20 per cent increase in drug offences outside of Dublin since last year- something which TD Fiona O' Loughlin mentioned in the Q&A session.

As he talked, Philly's words seemed to resonate with his audience, as many of the audience members, including Gardai present, nodded their heads in approval throughout.

If you or someone you know has been affected by addiction, help is available.

A list of services that help addicts to overcome addiction can be found at www.hse.ie.