It seems that the fate of head shops in Ireland is becoming increasingly inevitable. Whether through heavily restrictive licensing or by a crackdown drug by drug, the Drugs Minister, John Curran appears determined to ban the legal highs sold in such shops.
A rise in the number of drug-related incidents has led the Minister and many youth group supporters to call for immediate action in the “War against Drugs”. Curran believes that the use of legal pills such as “Red Doves” poses such a serious risk for users that they should be made illegal as opposed to simply regulated. These drugs are marketed as alternatives to cannabis and ecstasy but Curran believes that they are “so close to the real thing, that they should not be for human consumption.” Concern was also expressed about the fact that that head shops are currently permitted to open until 4am which enables delivery of the legal highs to clubs.
The Minister realises the controversy embedded in this move, he stated;
“My view, and maybe people don’t agree with me, but my view is that they pose an unnecessary risk”.
Some believe that this is yet another small step of many which will which contribute towards a backlash against the government, perceived by many to be a nanny state. However, Curran is adamant that there is justification for the ban after hearing the evidence of health professionals from A&E who witness first hand the risks of such legal highs. Galway West Fianna Fail TD, Frank Fahey endorsed this step and stated that;
“We led the way in Europe, and indeed the world, with our smoking ban and I believe we should also give leadership on this important issue”.
On January 27, a public meeting on the issue was attended by over 140 people in Co Roscommon. At it, the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, was called upon to use emergency powers to bring what had been described as “an explosion” in the number of new head shops to an end. Despite the recession, the rise in the number of head shops opening in Ireland has not slowed down. There are currently twenty-four head shops operating in Dublin, Cork, Waterford, Dundalk, Galway and Mullingar.
Owners complain that they have to conduct business against the backdrop of intense Garda scrutiny, predominantly negative media coverage and threats from self-appointed “community policing” groups. Shane O’Connor, who is the elected chairman of the Irish Head Shops Ass
ociation stated that;
‘‘All association members subscribe to a code of conduct, whereby nobody who is intoxicated or less than eighteen years of age gets served. It’s a voluntary code, but we’d be happy for it to be made law.”
He believes that banning legal drugs on sale in alternative lifestyle shops will only serve criminal drug dealers and push the market underground,
Controversy was caused last year when the stimulant BZP, designed as a cattle dewormer, was being sold as an alternative to ecstasy. Harney then outlawed it in 2009. O’Connor said that last year’s ban on BZP gave drug gangs a new bestseller and that outlawing new legal highs would do the same thing.
Mephedrone, which is still legal in Ireland was banned in the UK on the December 23, 2009. It is a substance which is sold through head shops in Ireland as “bath salts” and is a substitute for cocaine. There are reports that some people are even injecting the salts. The Drug’s Minister expressed concern that Ireland might become a dumping ground for such drugs after the ban in the UK.
The exploitation of a legal loophole made it possible to sell magic mushrooms in Ireland until December 2005, after death of thirty-three year old successful businessman, Colm Hodkinson in Dublin.
However, owners of head shops state that there is little or no proof of these substances being harmful. They argue that this latest move is a good PR opportunity for the government. When a number of legal highs were banned in the UK in 2009, British satire site, “The Daily Mash” ran a column entitled “Herbal highs will soon be as rare as heroin”. It continued;
“History teaches us time and time again that banning drugs is a completely marvellous idea. After heroin was banned in 1924, use of the drug immediately ceased and there have been only three documented cases of heroin abuse in the last 85 years.”
The absurdity of the ban is plain to many. There is a blatant difference between the number of deaths caused by alcohol and smoking and the number of deaths caused by legal highs in head shops. To many, alcohol and smoking are the real killers with many hundreds of lives destroyed annually by such substances. Owners of the head shops emphasise that the scaremongering from youth groups have left them feeling “well and truly shafted”.
However, with the sale of such drugs becoming increasingly limited and the lobbying of youth groups in Ireland becoming more passionate the inevitable fate of head shops seems sealed.
