New legislation published today will help put headshops out of business, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern has said.
The Criminal Justice (Psychoactive Substances) Bill 2010 will introduce a general ban on the selling, advertising and distributing (both home delivery and online) of psychoactive products.
The legislation also allows gardaí to serve a prohibition order on a shop directing it to cease if it is believed to be unlawfully selling substances. Should the shop continue to sell the product the garda can then seek a closure order from the District Court.
Last month Minister for Health Mary Harney made some 200 so-called “legal highs” controlled drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977. These included mephedrone, synthetic cannabinoids and BZP derivatives.
Substances have been produced subsequently, however, and the new legislation aims to clamp down on the latest products as they come on to the market.
Under the legislation the sale or supply of substances not specifically proscribed under the Misuse of Drugs Acts, but which have psychoactive effects, for human consumption will be a criminal offence.
“We were under no illusion that legislation she [Mary Harney] was operating under, as soon as she bans one product another comes on the market and we’ve seen evidence of this in recent times with one of the ones called whack,” Mr Ahern said.
The Minister said the new legislation will be a “much more easy way of getting at head shops” as the prohibition order is a civil procedure rather than a criminal procedure “so the proofs are not as strict”.
Gardaí and Revenue’s Customs Service are also being granted full search and seizure powers under the legislation.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland today Mr Ahern said although he believes the legislation will help close head shops, “obviously there will be some shops who will try to continue on selling products that are not psychoactive and it will be for the gardaí to constantly monitor that”.
Mr Ahern also said while there has been some anecdotal suggestions that the illegal drug trade will do better as result of head shop closures the evidence from the Garda Síochána shows a “dramatic drop off” in demand of the supply of drugs to this country.
Mr Ahern said he hoped to enact the legislation before the Dáil breaks for the summer recess at the end of the month.
Fine Gael's spokesperson on the National Drug Strategy, Catherine Byrne, welcomed the move as a "positive measure" but claimed the Government could have acted much sooner.
Ms Byrne said she hoped the Bill will “close off any remaining loopholes” and that Gardaí will have “necessary resources” to police this new law.
"Many questions still remain to be answered. Who will ensure that head shops are in compliance with this new legislation? Will the Gardaí be given more manpower to inspect head shops on a regular basis, and arrest people found to be in possession of illegal drugs? If new compounds appear on the market, how long will we have to wait for them to be banned?", she asked.
She also called on the Government and the HSE to roll out a promised new drug awareness campaign as soon as possible.
However, Sinn Féin’s spokesman on justice Aengus Ó’Snodaigh called the Bill “unworkable” and said it falls short of what is needed.
He said: “It fails to put in place the infrastructure that is needed to tackle the emergence of new dangerous drugs in an ongoing way.”
“Without a new Authority bringing together the necessary knowledge and experience…the Gardaí won't have a hope in hell of using this legislation to effectively tackle head shop drugs.”
