Ireland moves towards decriminalising substances including heroin, cocaine and cannabis as part of a “radical cultural shift”. Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, the chief of Ireland’s National Drugs Strategy, said attitudes to drugs needed to move away from shaming addicts to helping them. It would remain a crime to profit – from either the sale or distribution of illegal drugs – but drug takers would no longer be criminalised for their addictions.