Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

This is the one of the most pressing issues which should be addressed by legislation and one of the most insidious developments in recent months. There are 13 head shops in my constituency, two more than there were last week. They are doing significant business by selling substances which mimic illegal drugs such as cannabis. These shops are also mislabelling and misbranding. The fronts of these shops feature images of cannabis and drugs in the form of heroin or other substances banned under the Misuse of Drugs Act. Notwithstanding this, as the ingredients have not been defined in the Act, the Garda cannot use existing legislation to tackle the problem. The Garda Síochána cannot use existing legislation to tackle this problem. What we have missed in the past is an early response to a new development that took place with regard to drug abuse.

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