Dublin North East Sinn Féin -- Building an Ireland of Equals

Head Shop Bill Unworkable

Published: 18 June, 2010

Sinn Féin councillor Larry O'Toole, member of Dublin North Drugs Task Force, has described the Criminal Justice (Psychoactive Substances) Bill published today as unworkable and far short of what is needed.


Cllr. O'Toole said, "The Bill is unworkable. It fails to put in place the infrastructure that is needed to tackle the emergence of new dangerous drugs in an ongoing way.

"The Bill contains a vague definition of a psychoactive substance. So-called legal highs are being invented at a rate of one per fortnight, with this Bill the government are proposing to assign to Gardaí the role of identifying each of them. In reality this job requires expertise and input from science, the medical profession, pharmaceutical industry, addiction treatment services, the community and Gardaí. Assigning this task to Gardaí alone is simply unfeasible.

"Without a new Authority bringing together the necessary knowledge and experience, like that proposed by my own Bill which I published in April, the Gardaí won't have a hope in hell of using this legislation to effectively tackle head shop drugs."