Lobby group backs ‘safe use’ of drugs on NI nightclub scene

Nightclubs in Northern Ireland should be allowed to provide ‘safe places’ for people to take illegal drugs, a lobby group has told MLAs.

Appearing before Stormont’s Committee for the Economy, representatives of ‘Free the Night’ called for alcohol licensing laws to be liberalised, saying they do not believe in a prohibition approach to drugs.

The organisation, founded in 2021 by club DJ Holly Lester and Boyd Sleator of Humanists UK, seeks to promote “a more progressive and diverse” nightlife across the Province.

24-hour drinking

Sleator claimed that the current licensing system “stifles” diversity and should be liberalised to allow more nightclubs, cocktail bars and music venues.

Lester called for extended opening hours, occasional licences, and even suggested that some events should be allowed to serve alcohol round the clock.

Lester and Sleator also supported the reform of what they described as the ‘night time economy’.

‘Anti-prohibition’

DUP Committee member Mr Jonathan Buckley MLA raised “huge concerns” about the negative impacts of “large groups of people” in music venues, including a “rise in antisocial behaviour”, pressures on policing, and problems with drug taking.

Boyd disputed that liberalising licensing laws would lead to increased crime and claimed there was “a much better approach to going out at night from young people” now, compared to previous generations.

He told the Committee that Free the Night adopted an “anti-prohibition” approach to illegal drugs and claiming that “prohibition causes issues”.

The organisation, he explained, would much rather see spaces in venues where people can ‘try to take drugs responsibly’.

Escalating problem

According to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA), there were 169 drug-related deaths registered in 2023, a 47 per cent increase on the total registered in 2013.

NISRA data showed that the 25 to 34 age group had the highest drug-related mortality rate in 2023, at 21.6 deaths per 100,000 people. Over 60 per cent of deaths caused by drug use were linked to opioids such as heroin and methadone.

Last December, the Belfast Telegraph reported that between 2019 and 2024 more than 13,000 convictions and police cautions were recorded for possession of Class B drugs, such as cannabis and ketamine.