The decriminalisation of cannabis possession has “not been a success”, a leading criminologist has argued.

The possession of cannabis has recently been added to the Adult Cautioning Scheme, which means that Gardaí can caution users, instead of taking them to court. 

The idea is to avoid clogging up the criminal justice system for what society perceives to be a minor offence. 

However, new figures issued to An Garda Síochána to Newstalk reveal that 12,000 people have been arrested for possession in the past two and a half years. 

Just 26% of them are cautioned, while most are prosecuted. 

On The Claire Byrne Show, Dr Cian Ó Concubhair, Assistant Professor in Criminal Justice at Maynooth, said the caution system for cannabis has “not been a success”. 

“It's very hard to understand, given that there's wide political agreements that prosecuting people for possession of drugs just doesn't work,” he said. 

“Why for cannabis, which is widely regarded as the least harmful of all the controlled drugs, why the overwhelming majority of people are still being prosecuted? 

“I haven't seen any evidence other than there's clearly at an organisational level no real interest in changing things.

“Part of the reason for that is there's no political wills.”

Overall, Dr Ó Concubhair feels the culture of prosecuting people for drug use is far too “deeply rooted” within An Garda Síochána. 

“That affects how they use their discretion,” he said. 

“Police forces in general like drug prosecutions because it affects their clearance rates.

“So, it affects their performance indicators, which are important internally in the organisation for things like promotion.”

Main image: A cannabis cigarette being smoked. Picture by: Joe Bird / Alamy.