Moves by Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern to bring in legislation to close down so-called “head shops” have been welcomed by Independent TD Finian McGrath who said a “huge crisis” had now developed over the issue.
"I welcome legislation that will take the issue seriously because we have a huge crisis and we have to deal with it head-on," the Dublin North-Central TD said.
He said there were now "tens of thousands" of people who regarded a visit to the head shop to buy drugs as the equivalent of "going to the local for a pint".
Urging strong community action against the head shops, he said this approach had proven successful in his own constituency where an outlet of this type had been closed down.
However, he was "absolutely stunned" by the numbers he saw queuing outside another head shop in a middle-class area of North Dublin where the crowds on a Saturday night compared with those for the local "chipper".
Urging support for the forthcoming Criminal Justice (Psychotropic Substances) Bill, which Mr Ahern is expected to bring to Cabinet next week, he said: "It is essential that we, as legislators, support that Bill."
Mr Ahern's Bill is intended to overcome a major difficulty whereby the composition of synthetic drugs sold in head shops can be altered as a way of circumventing the legal ban.
His legislation is based on the United Nations definition of psychotropic drugs as producing "central nervous system stimulation or depression, resulting in hallucinations or disturbances in motor function or thinking or behaviour or perception or mood".
The Garda Siochana will be empowered to go to the District Court to seek an order for closure of a particular head shop for the offence of "knowing or being reckless" as to whether psychotropic substances would be used for human consumption.
By applying to the District Court they would be following a civil rather than criminal procedure and the proof required would be on the "balance of probabilities" rather than "beyond reasonable doubt".
