Legislation to criminalise so-called head shops will deal “with new drugs as they emerge”, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern has told the Dáil.
Mr Ahern said the full details of the legislation had yet to be finalised and there were complicated drafting issues to be dealt with but he expected to bring proposals to Government “in the very near future”.
He stressed, however, that the “focus will be on seeking to ensure that the sale or supply of substances which may not be specifically proscribed under the Misuse of Drugs Act, but which have psychotropic effects, will be a criminal offence”.
Mr Ahern was responding in an adjournment debate to Labour Dublin Central TD Joe Costello who warned that the lack of action of Head Shops was leading to vigilantism.
Mr Costello said that eight head shops had now been vandalised and he criticised the delay in introducing legislation. The Minister for Justice last Friday stated that he would introduce a Bill to give the Garda new powers to deal with head shops, Mr Costello pointed out.
“However, the Department of Justice has been part of the interdepartmental group which has been deliberating on the issue for the
last year and has not produced a single legislative or other measure to date. In the meantime the Government has rejected the Planning and Development Bill 2010 which I moved in the Dáil a month ago.”
He said this legislation “would effectively prevent the proliferation of new Head Shops and would require existing head shops to obtain planning permission which would be very difficult. One simple piece of legislation could solve the problem overnight.”
Mr Ahern said however that the Minister for Health was taking action “to place controls on a range of substances currently on sale in head shops. This will make the unauthorised possession and sale of these substances illegal and subject to criminal sanctions.”
This meant most substances currently for sale in head shops, would be banned. “The draft regulations have been notified to the European Commission as required by EU law in order to allow these orders will come into effect as soon as possible.” He pointed out that “it’s not possible to take prosecutions until that time has elapsed”.
The Minister said that “a major problem associated with the control of head shops is that the legislators are often left to play catch up - as soon as one dangerous substance is banned in a country, another product is produced to take its place. These products are often produced for an international market and incredible chemical expertise and ingenuity is at play in constantly devising new products.”
Mr Ahern said “my legislative proposals are intended to deal with new drugs as they emerge”. The Minister added: “I am also examining how appropriate powers could be given to the gardaí and to the courts to intervene quickly to prevent these outlets from selling these products by way of appropriate prohibition orders.”