SU Prez says Close Head Shops

Thursday, 04 February 2010 16:17

Debate

SU Prez says Close Head Shops

CITSU’s President, Gearóid Buckley has called for the closure of Head Shops. “I am calling on both the Minister for Justice and Health to introduce legislation to ban the sale of legal drugs to the nations youth. 

This government can introduce legislation to bail out their banking and developer friends, but seem to be unable to deal with issues facing our youth, as well as the issue of head shops, the student support bill is also floating around Leinster House and it needs to be signed off.”

Joe Duffy’s, Lifeline programme broadcasted 12/1/2010 indicated the Head Shops and their trade in new legal drugs had now become a €30 million annual industry. The programme highlighted that about 25 Head Shops operate in Ireland with the vast majority selling new legal drugs which give 100% profit to retailers. Numerous contributors to Liveline spoke of the side effects of these new legal drugs including, mephedrone, Smoke, Spice, Charge, White Ice, Snowblow, Wild Puppy and, Magic Plant Feeder. Side effects range from hallucinations, paranoia, fits, delusions, nose bleeds, nose burns and anxiety. One caller to Joe Duffy described how his brother fell off a roof and died in 2005 as a result of being in euphoric state after taking magic mushrooms bought in a Head Shops. All these drugs are labeled and coded as plant food or novelty bath salts “not for human consumption”. This coding allows the drugs to be sold legally but as Senior lecturer in pharmacology at University College Cork, Dr John Cryan, said products like Charge and White Ice comprise chemicals which are structurally not so different from those used in illicit substances. "These are dangerous drugs to be playing around with especially in combination with alcohol." Emergency Department consultant Dr Chris Luke said the public needed to be aware that the products were untested and potentially lethal. In December six young people were admitted to Cork University Hospital suffering the ill-effects of herbal highs. Dr Luke said he was "increasingly agitated and annoyed" by the Head Shop retailers. 

In October 2006, the Irish Examiner revealed that drugs up to five times the strength of ecstasy were being sold over the counter in at least 15 Head Shops around Ireland, despite being classified as a class A drug in the US since 2001. The government has stated they are awaiting advice from Attorney General on whether legislation could be introduced to ban these stores. Recently, Garda officers have seized drugs from a number of these Head Shops including retail outlets in Cork and the State Forensic Science Laboratory is analyzing these products. In the meantime, the health and well being of our communities and especially our youth is been put at serious risk due the lack of regulation of these drugs. The Government needs to take urgent action on this very serious issue as the side effects of these drugs sold openly and legally in Head Shops will have short and long term consequences on the health and well being of our community. Spice, Smoke, and Sense is sold as an alternative to cannabis and a synthetic cannabinoid, JHW-018, was identified in some of these products in Ireland and other European Countries. Germany, France, Luxembourg, Austria and Poland have taken legal action to remove Spice from the market. BZP is a synthetic mood altering substance which has been sold as an alternative to ecstasy under the name of ‘Legal E’, ‘Legal X’ ‘XTC’, ‘A2’, ‘piperazine’, or ‘party pills’. In Ireland, party pills containing BZP have been widely sold in Head Shops up to the end of March last year. On 31 March 2009 BZP was declared a controlled drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977.  Possession or sale of BZP is now a criminal offence in Ireland. Six of the 13 new drugs found in Head Shops in Ireland contained cathinone which is a chemical stimulant found in the shrub Khat. Cathinones are related to amphetamines and ecstasy. Mephedrone (MCAT) and Methylone, derivatives of cathinone, are currently being sold online and in ‘head’ shops as ‘legal highs’ across Europe (including Ireland). The use of the drug can induce anxiety and paranoia. Mephedrone has been linked to two deaths in Sweden in 2008. Reports say that its use can become compulsive and can create a state of psychological dependence.  In Ireland in 2008 there were 12 seizures of chlorophenylpiperazine tablets (a total of 2,010 tablets) and the chemical meta- chlorophenylpiperazine (mCPP) was detected in a number the seized tablets. This is another mood altering substance.

Gearóid continued “Currently, Ireland has over 450,000 people unemployed and the future prospects for graduates is not positive or encouraging. Recent cuts to job seekers allowance will make it difficult for young people to have a social outlet and the temptation is now to buy these drugs from Head Shops within our community in order to achieve a ‘boost up’ buzz or short-term high. The rate of suicide within our young people is one of the highest in Europe and during recession people become depressed and alienated because of lack of opportunity and long-term security. These Head Shops must be regulated and controlled by relevant authorities and any products that have negative impact on health and well being on our community should be immediately banned. The retailers who operate these Head Shops cannot not be protected by ‘bogus coding and labeling’, which currently allows these dangerous and unsafe drugs to be sold legally. The Garda should be given the powers to deal with these Head Shops and the dodgy drugs that there are selling. Communities need be made aware of the dangerous that lurk inside these Head Shops which are advertised as agents for alternative lifestyles. These Head Shops pose a major risk to the health and well being of our communities and media awareness campaign should inform the public of the real dangerous of their products.”