what's everyone's thoughts on this.. the drug dealers will be delighted anyway...... The Government has introduced new measures to criminalise the sale of legal highs. Minister for Health Mary Harney announced a criminal ban with immediate effect on a list of these drugs. The ban makes it illegal to buy or sell mephadrone, spice products and substances which mimic cannabis, cocaine and ecstasy. Advertisement These products contain chemicals such as mephedrone, benzylpiperazine, methylone, methedrone, butylone, flephedrone, and MDPV. Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern also published the main parts of the New Criminal Law, which makes it illegal to sell hallucinogenic products. The Psychoactive Substances Bill will also allow gardaà to seek a court order to close head shops suspected of selling drug-like products with the onus on the owners to prove they are not involved in such activities. Minister Harney brought an order to Cabinet to ban the substances following approval for the measure from the European Commission yesterday. 'These substances are dangerous and their sale and promotion have caused huge anxiety to families and communities throughout the country,' Minister Harney said. 'Their possession and supply are now illegal and subject to criminal sanction of: up to seven years imprisonment and/or a fine for unlawful possession, and, on indictment, up to a maximum period of life imprisonment for unlawful supply,' she said. Minister Pat Carey, minister with responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy, said the measures will send out a 'clear message', especially to young people, about the dangers of psychoactive substances sold through head shops. 'The controls introduced today constitute a significant measure to tackle the issue of the psychoactive substances currently being supplied here in Ireland via the internet and through head shops.' He continued: 'Psychoactive products on sale in Ireland will continue to be monitored and any other products with a detrimental health effect will be added to the list of controlled substances'.
It will increase the amount people get off drug dealers anyway, one thing that head shops were doing was affecting drug dealers sales. The people who were buying from head shops will just go to drug dealers now anyway, I saw some guy on prime time talking about how the drug made him "drive a screw driver through his wrist". It was comical imo, the guy was clearly a violent scobe who will definitely be taking illegal drugs still and I wouldn't put the blame of his stupidity on these substances. The users of these drugs have to cop on to what's in them, making them illegal will just increase the sales of the illegal drugs and won't make too much of a difference as to what is and isn't consumed by young people. They probably should be illegal in saying all this, if they are not for human consumption then they shouldn't be sold as so. I just think the users of these drugs should cop on to the circumstances and also that the ban will do little but drive a lot of people back to drug dealers.
Richie's right to be fair the drug dealers all over the country will be celebrating this evening!!theres always gonna be a market for recreational drugs in this society..im not in favour of the heavy drugs been illegal but i can not for the life of me understand why cannabis is illegal. Which would you be prefer to bump into town late at night, a stoner or someone who is locked??i know that is slightly off topic but we need to be mature as a society and actually see what they can do for us
Our country is a nanny state while the real criminals are getting away with murder. Country is a joke and is up shit creek...
Rang Joe Duffy on this earlier, cnuts didnt put me on the air. My gripe is not so much in the ban (dont know enough to be honest) but in the way it came about. Joe Duffy has been on a personal crusade to shut these shops ever since a head shop owner dropped a sly remark about him live on radio. I've never voted for Joe Duffy and I dont feel he should make this countries decisions, the speed this was pushed through was a disgrace, the country is up shit creek and I could name 100 things that need prioritising ahead of a few young fellas spaced out of it. They'll be back soon enough so Joe can go **** himself.
Was just thinking the same. I think this typifies Ireland as a nation. The shit we're in at the moment and all the problems we've had over the last two years and the two biggest issues that have had people marching and running amok over are: Thierry Henry's handball and Head Shops! Never mind the fact that there are people lying on trolley's in corridors of almost every hospital in the country!
The government has just acted to ensure that there's a wider selection of illegal drugs available in this country ... betya there's no significant increase in the number of prosacutions for drug dealing over the months to come though ! Whether the products being sold were / were not safe is one question, how they've dealt with the matter and the chain reaction to their actions, is the real problem here though as I see it... obviously, I'd love to be proven wrong though.
Why not ban alcohol? The roads would be safer, it would be safe to walk the streets at night, hospitals wouldn't be battle grounds and i have never heard of anyone stoned off their heads coming home and beating up their wife.
This is a good thing. Drugs are a problem, it should not be made easier for schoolkids to access them like it was with the headshops. There are laws in place to stop drug dealers (whether or not they are effective is another debate altogether). These places were just taking advantage of a loophole.
Your right this is a could thing but the word drug is an umbrella word these days things need to be clarified further
Agree completely, alcohol is a much worse drug imo and it has worse longer lasting effects as well. Since I have a seriously gay exam in the morning and I shouldn't even be on here I won't go searching for the link now but my friend showed me last week this new Harvard study on the long term effects of cannabis use, including effect on memory etc. and they concluded that you could smoke it for a few years and if you stopped smoking for a few months the effects would be non-existant anymore with your memory returning to normal.