Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil le Pairtí an Lucht Oibre as ucht am a roinnt liom. Cuirim fáilte roimh an Bille ríthábhachtach seo, in ainneoin go bhfuil fadhbanna agam leis. Government action on head shops has been painfully slow in coming to fruition as four and a half years ago Colm Hodgkinson died after taking processed magic mushrooms he bought from a head shop. Not wanting to see any more lives needlessly cut short, his family at the time and since has called on the Government to ban mind-altering and hallucinogenic substances and the shops that sell them. They are supported in this by many Deputies and groups across the State.

While the Government has sat on its hands there have been further tragic deaths that could have been prevented and needless harm has also been caused to many. As recently as last week the Kildare county coroner warned the public of the danger of legal highs as he cited their contribution to the death of a young student. Health professionals the length and breadth of the island have pointed to cases of acute and, in some instances, possible indefinite psychosis resulting from the use of so-called legal highs. The substances in question pose a greater potential threat to the Irish public health than swine flu ever did.

The chronic delay which has categorised the Government's response has been unacceptable. The ban introduced in May was better late than never, but disgracefully in failing to act for so long, the Government has allowed a demand for these dangerous drugs to be created. The Government's go-slow approach has put people's lives at risk and led to the death of some. This is not just because of Government inaction, but because of people's own stupidity in getting involved in these drugs. People are at a direct risk of harm and some have died as a result. Drug dependency has arisen in some people who would otherwise never have engaged in substance abuse.

Dr. Bobby Smyth, a psychiatrist with the national drugs treatment centre board, who works with those under 18 in particular, has indicated that as many as 20% of those in treatment are now listing head shop drugs as their primary addiction. By allowing head shops to freely sell drugs for so long, a ready-made and far bigger customer base has been created for the future benefit of gangland criminals, as these addicts and users will switch to illegal drugs. It is in that context that I urge the Minister and the Government to invest now in expanding treatment for all addicts, particularly the new legal high addicts, before they get sucked further into the drugs trade when this Bill has the effect we hope it will have.

The current legal provisions for responding to this threat are not enough and authorities have been too slow and cumbersome to date. The May ban proscribed a list of substances but more new drugs have been invented since to replace these. Research conducted by Dr. Pierce Kavanagh of Trinity College found that just one month after the ban was introduced, nine new substances mimicking illegal drugs were available in head shops around the country. Sinn Féin anticipated that this would be the case and in April we published the first piece of legislation comprehensively addressing all psychoactive substances sold in head shops via the Internet and by home delivery.

It was and remains my strong view that an infrastructure bringing together the experience and expertise of scientists, medical professionals, the pharmaceutical industry, those working in addiction treatment, the community and gardaí is needed to keep pace with the multi-million euro legal highs research and development industry. According to EU statistics, new legal highs are being invented at a rate of one every fortnight. The old ministerial system of lists of bans cannot keep up with it and nor can gardaí to whom the Bill before us assigns that mammoth task.

My Bill provided for the establishment of a new authority comprising the expertise I mentioned with the power to regulate and licence the sale of all psychoactive substances, including the power to quickly ban the substance, where appropriate, in order to protect public health. My Bill provided for a range of criminal offences but also for the registration and conditional licensing, all of which would be funded by the industry if it still existed. This is based on the logic that if a party wishes to sell a product, it must pay for the tests to prove that it is safe.

Unfortunately, rather than addressing the issue in the round as I did with the focus on health and harm reduction, the Government has opted to bring forward a narrow justice Bill instead. Such criminal justice Bills are always limited in what they can achieve. That said, I will not oppose the Bill and wish it success. As currently drafted, it will not work; the Minister is a solicitor and should not need me to tell him that the Bill will fall at the first attempted prosecution. The Supreme Court has in the past been unequivocal in stating that all offences contained in statute must be expressed without ambiguity. The definition of psychoactive substance contained in the Bill is so vague that it cannot form the basis of a criminal offence upon which any higher level court would be willing to have a conviction. I hope to be proven wrong but it is my contention.

The Minister knows this already and that is why he has duplicated his efforts with a parallel civil law mechanism. This particular mix of civil and criminal matters throws up its own problems. The Bill sends out some worrying and mixed messages to gardaí. It has indicated that selling the drugs is a criminal offence which must be prosecuted but it also indicates that if gardaí believe somebody is committing a criminal offence they should not be prosecuted; instead they should go to court seeking a civil order prohibiting the parties involved from continuing to commit the offence. I am not sure this is tenable and it is unfair on members of An Garda Síochána, whose job is difficult enough and whose resources are already overstretched, to be expected to enforce an ambiguous piece of legislation open to challenge by dealers.

I am not the only person to spot these flaws and this week I received documentation from a representative of head shop owners. Although motivated by objectives totally in contrast with my own, the analysis confirmed my assessment. Head shop owners will be queuing up to challenge this Bill and one of their number has already successfully challenged this State's laws on sex shops.

There are significant profits in running these head shops.

The owner of one such shop boasted that it had a turnover of €20,000 per week. I am of the view that the owners of these shops have already banded together and are preparing a court challenge to the legislation. I hope that challenge will not be successful.

The proposals I intend to put forward on Committee Stage will strengthen the Bill. I hope the Minister will accept them. More time should have been allocated in respect of the debate on the legislation in order to ensure that it will be strong enough to deal with the blight that is head shops.

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