THE GOVERNMENT’S decision to ban several substances sold in head shops does not go far enough and will fail to halt the trade in so-called “legal highs”, Opposition parties have warned.
The ban, which comes into effect in June, applies to a range of herbal and synthetic substances sold commonly as Spice, Charge+, Snow Blow, White Ice, Magic, Liquid Ecstasy, BZP Derivatives and Mephedrone.
While the move was broadly welcomed by healthcare professionals yesterday, Fine Gael and Labour claimed the shops would find legal loopholes to sell alternative products, and further regulations were needed to control the trade.
“The reality is that head shops currently operate as legitimate businesses, and until proper legislation is implemented they will be still able to sell legal highs containing a variety of unknown ingredients, many of which pose very serious health risks,” Fine Gael spokeswoman on drugs policy Catherine Byrne said.
While the ban finally brought the Republic in line with other European countries, Ms Byrne said there was a need for further regulation, as well as licensing laws for head shops to monitor the sale of these substances.
Labour health spokeswoman Jan O’Sullivan said: “A range of responses are necessary if these shops are to be controlled and regulated so that the public, and particularly young people, can be protected from harm.”
The Minister in charge of the National Drugs Strategy, John Curran, said the ban was prompted by the rapid proliferation of head shops across the country in recent months, which were selling a range of dangerous substances.
Mr Curran said his department was also looking at other measures to regulate the head shop industry through the use of the planning and consumer laws.
One option being considered is the establishment of a system similar to the one governing off-licences, which would allow local councils input into the location and opening hours of the shops.
But Mr Curran warned many of the substances were also being bought over the internet and via home delivery services, and the key to dealing with the problem was not simply closing the shop, “but going after the products”.
The Government also yesterday announced the establishment of a research advisory group to monitor new products coming to the market, and their negative or detrimental health effects.
Helen Stone, proprietor of five head shops in the Republic, including the Funky Skunk shops in Cork, and Deep Route Gardening in Limerick, described the ban as “shortsighted”.
“People are just going to go back out on to the streets, and buy the substances without knowing anything about the quality,” Ms Stone said.
But the chairman of the National Advisory Committee on Drugs, Dr Des Corrigan, insisted there was an immediate threat to public health from several materials being sold in head shops.
“Even if you had a regulated head shop system, some of these products are so dangerous that no regulatory authority would allow them on the market,” he said.
His views were echoed by Dr Bobby Smyth, consultant psychiatrist at the Health Service Executive Youth Drug and Alcohol service in Tallaght, who described the Government’s move as “positive and prompt”.
“The challenge will be that when the next batch of the substances arrive on the scene in six months or two years’ time that they respond as quickly,” he said.
