Two-thirds of head shops closed since ‘legal highs’ ban

Two-thirds of the “head shops” throughout the State have closed since the Government declared a range of “legal highs” to be controlled drugs, an Oireachtas committee has been told.

The Joint Committee on Health and Children was told yesterday that, according to the Garda, the number of head shops had declined from 102 to 36 in that three-week period.

As soon as the Government order under the Misuse of Drugs Act was issued on May 11th, gardaí visited all the head shops in the State and requested a list of the substances on sale.

Chief pharmacist at the Department of Health, Marita Kinsella, told the committee there were, at last count, 36 head shops in operation although the number was “subject to fluctuation”.

Fine Gael health spokesman Dr James Reilly said there were ways of getting around the legislation and he produced a substance which he said had been purchased by “a concerned citizen” from a head shop in north Dublin.

Dr Reilly said he had contacted the National Poisons Information Centre in Beaumont Hospital who confirmed that the substance, called “Amplified”, was a cocaine substitute, which was not on the banned list.

On the packet it was described as “an exquisite white bath salt; use with plenty of water; not for human consumption”.

Dr Reilly said the head shops should be obliged, at their own expense, to present all substances intended for human consumption to the Food Safety Authority of Ireland or the Irish Medicines Board for testing and prior approval.

He said the Government’s legislation on head shops was “tardy and incomplete”. The opening times should be restricted to normal daytime working hours and they should not be allowed to operate within 10km of a school, public house or club.

Alice O’Flynn from the HSE said a national drug awareness campaign of radio, cinema, online and outdoor advertising was ready to begin at the end of June.

The purpose was to create awareness of the facts and “dispel the myths” in relation to recreational drugs available from head shops or on the internet.

“The HSE was ready to mount the campaign as outlined, but given the recent changes in legislation outlawing a number of previously legal substances and the proposed legislation being brought through the office of the Minister for Justice we must now revisit and change some of the information and key messages,” Ms O’Flynn said.

Source: The Irish Times, Deaglan de Breadun, 02/06/2010