BELFAST MAYOR –
April 17, 2025 – It is no secret that Belfast is currently in the grip of a drugs epidemic, and when asked if he had ever smoked marijuana, Micky Murray admitted that he has tried it twice. “I don’t think there’s a huge issue with marijuana. It needs to be legalised, at the very least for medicinal purposes. The way we treat drugs – and especially addiction – is really behind the times,” he said. “Marijuana doesn’t do the damage that people think it’s going to do. And if you look at places across the world who have legalised it, they have been able to control it and they’ve taxed it and used it as an income generation as well.
“We need to look at things like safer injection spaces or overdose prevention facilities, whatever term you want to use, that have been working successfully all over the world since the 70s, 80s, 90s. And it’s 2025, and we’re still having the conversation about, can we open one in Belfast?
“The Portuguese model is probably one of the most successful models. No model is going to work everywhere. So, I think you look at something like the Portuguese model and think, how would that work for a city like Belfast?”
In this six-page feature, Lord Mayor Micky Murray discusses the future of Belfast, reflects on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, explains why he never wants to be First Minister, and reveals why he gave up booze for a year.
