Long sentences for drug offences rare - report

A new report on the state of the drugs problem in Europe has found the average sentence for drug offences in Ireland to be two years and ten months.

With automatic quarter remission, the maximum average time served by a drug offender in Ireland is less than two years and two months.

The report from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction shows that although sentences, such as the mandatory minimum for serious drugs offences in Ireland, are supposed to act as a deterrent, long prison sentences for drug addicts or dealers here are rare.

There were no cases where the offender received the maximum sentence in the reporting year and only 22 of 530 offenders in Ireland were given ten years or more.

In a 2003 survey, the mandatory minimum ten-year sentence was given in only three of 55 eligible cases between 1999 and 2001.

The report also says that Ireland is one of only five EU countries that sentences drug offenders to community work instead of prison.