Dáil debates

Friday, 2 July 2010

Criminal Justice (Psychoactive Substances) Bill 2010 [Seanad]: Second Stage

 

10:30 am

Photo of Dermot AhernDermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

I am very pleased to bring the Criminal Justice (Psychoactive Substances) Bill 2010 to this House. I appreciate the co-operation of the House in agreeing to take this Bill at relatively short notice. I thank the Opposition for its understanding in this respect. I congratulate Deputy Shatter on his promotion to the position of spokesperson on justice. I am looking forward to having the same level of co-operation with him as I had with Deputy Flanagan.

Photo of Pat RabbittePat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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He must be thinking, "What did I do to deserve this-----

Photo of James ReillyJames Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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By "co-operation", I think the Minister means skin and hair flying.

Photo of Dermot AhernDermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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As was said during the last session, the Ceann Comhairle has had such patience putting up with me for the past 23 years.

Photo of Jim O'KeeffeJim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Be careful, this could turn into a total-----

11:00 am

Photo of Dermot AhernDermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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There is no doubt we are in an era when increasingly we need to look for new approaches in tackling new problems. I decided some months ago that a new approach was necessary to deal with the problem of head shops which have been emerging in our society in the past year or more. The Bill before us is such a new approach. It is a robust, innovative and urgent approach. In it I am providing that it will be an offence to sell, import or export unregulated psychoactive substances for human consumption. In addition, and very importantly, I am providing powers for the gardaí and the courts to issue prohibition and closure orders in respect of persons or premises where the sale of such products continues despite notice to cease.

in the past year or so, we have seen head shops proliferate in our society. These shops appeared on the main streets and in the suburbs of our towns and cities. They sprang up in villages and towns throughout the country. They all had the same characteristic in common - the sale of a range of unregulated psychoactive substances. This trade operates behind a veil of technical legality with products marketed as "legal highs". This gives the impression that they are safe to use. People, in particular teenagers and young adults, who would not ordinarily take illegal drugs, are thus enticed into purchasing and consuming them. They also attract the drug-using population who consume these products as alternatives or in addition to controlled drugs such as cannabis, cocaine and heroin. The products are sold with no information on content and no directions for use. Needless to say, no standards of quality control or safety are applied. On the contrary, there is a deliberate attempt at circumventing the legal framework for control of medicinal products by labelling them as "bath salts" or "plant food".

There are serious medical concerns that these unregulated products may be as harmful as illegal drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy. Our already overburdened hospitals are unfortunately seeing the health consequences, with many young people presenting having abused these unregulated products. A coroner in Kildare recently warned of the dangers of head shop products following the tragic death of a 19 year old woman who had taken two head shop products, mephedrone and butylone, together with prescribed drugs, alcohol and heroin. I should mention that the two products in question have since been controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Acts by the Minister for Health and Children.

The health and safety concern is very important and it is the main motivating factor for this Bill, but it is not my only concern. I am seriously concerned that head shops are acting as an unprecedented gateway to illegal drug abuse and criminality, especially for our young people.

The House will not be surprised therefore to hear that I put little store by the argument that it is somehow wrong to criminalise the sale of these products because by so doing we increase the market potential for drug traffickers. These products can be equal to controlled drugs in the threat they present to public health and safety. I believe that those who trade in them should not be allowed to escape the application of the law. Nor should they be allowed to avail of any veneer of respectability. It is a dangerous trade which operates without regard to the consequences for its customers or for society in terms of health and safety, addiction and criminality.

This Bill is but one part of the Government's multi-pronged approach targeting the activities of head shops. The primary vehicles for regulating psychoactive substances are, and will remain, the Misuse of Drugs Acts 1977 to 2007. On foot of the Government order of 11 May, the Minister for Health and Children made the necessary statutory instruments to make the possession and sale of certain substances subject to criminal sanctions under the Misuse of Drugs Acts. The regulations covered the mainstream substances commonly being sold in head shops - cannabinoids, BZP derivatives, mephedrone, methylone and related cathinones.

I am advised that following the making of these orders, of the 102 head shops then open, many closed but about 36 re-opened shortly afterwards reportedly selling different substances. The tally of head shops re-opening has since risen and I understand the records of the Garda National Drugs Unit indicate that 48 head shops were trading nationwide on 10 June although this figure had reduced to 44 on 14 June.

Given the versatile and changing nature of the trade in psychoactive substances, such fluctuation in numbers operating does not surprise me. I am not, however, prepared to sit back and resign myself to counting head shops. On the contrary, this Bill is an indication of my determination to stop this trade in its tracks. Experience has shown that new psychoactive substances can quickly emerge. There is now a big international market for these products and skilled chemists in places as far away as China are ready and eager to use their expertise to create new products in response to the lure of large profit associated with this market. We have seen how quickly products such as "Whack" and "Amplified" have come onto the Irish market following the banning of mephedrone and other such substances by the Minister for Health and Children. The National Poisons Information Centre has received reports of patients presenting to hospital emergency departments with symptoms of extreme agitation and anxiety having consumed these products. The Minister for Health and Children is monitoring the sale of new products as they emerge with a view to listing them as controlled drugs if that proves necessary. However, I understand some of the newer products such as "Whack" contain substances with anaesthetic effects and can be, and are being, removed from the market by the Irish Medicines Board. The speedy emergence of such substances is indicative of the need for a more general, catch-all approach in the criminal law to the sale of dangerous psychoactive substances. It is clear there always will be a time lag before such new substances can be made subject to control under the Misuse of Drugs Acts.

The approach taken in the Bill is necessary to criminalise the sale of psychoactive substances as they emerge. I am acting quickly to prevent the sale of unsafe products, especially to young people. I am also stepping in now to stymie any re-growth potential in the head shop industry. The focus of the Bill is on seeking to ensure the sale or supply of substances for human consumption, which may not be specifically proscribed under the Misuse of Drugs Act but which have psychoactive effect, will be a criminal offence. That offence can be prosecuted as an arrestable offence, attracting a penalty of up to five years imprisonment. This puts the offence into the serious category and, as such, it will be automatically subject to various powers such as the power of arrest. The main offences under this Act are also being included in the Schedule to the Bail Act which means they are being treated as serious offences for the purposes of that Act, that is, as offences for which bail can be refused.

Some criticism has been voiced that this Bill will not work because it does not incorporate a structure to bring together expertise to identify psychoactive substances. This criticism ignores the fact that under existing arrangements, when considering whether substances should be controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act, the Minister for Health and Children already has access to expertise on drug misuse and harm. Controlling substances under the Misuse of Drugs Act is an ongoing process which involves national and international co-operation and engagement. Substances are scheduled under the Act in accordance with Ireland's obligations under international conventions and EU Council decisions or where there is evidence the substances are causing significant harm to public health. At a national level, the Department of Health and Children works closely with my Department, the Office of the Minister for Drugs, the National Advisory Committee on Drugs, the Garda Síochána, the customs service, the forensic science laboratory, the Irish Medicines Board, the Health Research Board and others to monitor emerging trends in the development of new psychoactive substances. At an international level, the Department engages with the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction and the United Nations Office of Drug Control and Crime Prevention regarding international trends in the emergence of new substances and drug control.

I will not, particularly given the current state of the public finances, contemplate the duplication of the extensive controls operated under the Misuse of Drugs Acts. This Bill is a recognition that while the specific identification and control of substances is invaluable as a long-term approach, it is not sufficient on its own to provide an instant response to the constantly evolving trade in unregulated psychoactive substances. No matter what expertise is available, the imposition of controls on specified psychoactive substances will be always left playing catch-up with the creative capacity of the head shop industry constantly to develop new products. It is for this reason that I am proposing in this Bill a more immediate catch-all approach to ensure the criminal law can deal with those who seek to undermine the controls operated by the Minister for Health and Children on the sale of dangerous psychoactive substances.

A particularly important aspect of the Bill is its provision of an immediate legal weapon to the Garda Síochána and to the courts. The Garda can apply to the courts for a prohibition order prohibiting any person from selling a psychoactive substance for human consumption where that person refuses to obey a Garda prohibition notice to cease such trade. The procedure in question, unlike a criminal prosecution, is a civil procedure. It is similar to procedures in other legislation, such as the Food Safety Authority of Ireland Act 1998, which provide for immediate action in circumstances where public health or safety may be at risk. Accordingly, the onus of proof is on the balance of probabilities which is less onerous than that applying to the prosecution of criminal offences. Breach of the order will be a criminal offence. In addition, I am providing that the court can order the closure of a premises where an order has been breached, in addition to any other penalty the court may impose.

Under the terms of this Bill, those who sell unregulated potentially dangerous substances for their psychoactive effect will also risk criminal investigation and prosecution. The prosecution may take time to gather the necessary criminal evidence, but head shop traders should be under no illusion. Those who thought they were safe to peddle newly marketed substances may also find themselves in due course defending their position before the criminal courts. The legislation is designed in order to have no impact on legitimate trade and will not apply to products that can be legally sold for human consumption, such as medicines and food.

The Bill is intended to operate in conjunction with various other avenues being pursued, including regulations under the Misuse of Drugs Acts. Several such measures are already in train. The activities of head shops are being closely monitored on an ongoing basis by the Garda Síochána and Revenue's customs service with a view to ensuring no substances that are currently illegal are being sold. The Health Service Executive, in association with partner agencies under the drugs strategy, is finalising a national drugs awareness campaign that will focus on the dangers of psychoactive substances available through head shops. The National Advisory Committee on Drugs has been asked to carry out some targeted research in this area. In addition, as part of this multi-pronged approach, relevant Government agencies are reviewing existing legislative provisions in order to establish whether head shops are liable for prosecution under a range of legislation.

The general scheme of the Bill was notified to the European Commission under the technical standards directives. That notification invoked the emergency procedure which means the usual three-month stand-still period would not apply. On 18 June the Commission indicated its acceptance of the need for urgent legislation on this matter. Moreover, its letter indicated that the Commission itself is moving to introduce proposals for a directive in regard to head shops that will apply throughout the European Union. We are ahead of the posse in this respect.

I will now turn to the main provisions of the legislation. Section 1defines terms used in the Bill. Section 2excludes from the scope of the Bill products which are subject to licence, authorisation or other control. These include medicinal products, animal remedies, intoxicating liquor, tobacco and food. Controlled drugs, which are subject to the Misuse of Drugs Acts, are also excluded to avoid duplication. The section also provides that the Minister can, by order, exclude other products. This provision has been included in the unlikely event that a legitimate substance inadvertently comes within the scope of the legislation.

Section 3provides for the offences of selling, importing or exporting psychoactive substances for human consumption. Subsection (1) provides for the offence of selling a psychoactive substance, knowing or being reckless as to whether it is being acquired or supplied for human consumption. The definition of selling is broad and by means of section 1 includes supplying, distributing, offering for sale and being in possession for sale. It includes sale over the Internet or home delivery services within this jurisdiction. Subsection (2) provides that it will be an offence to import or export a psychoactive substance for human consumption. Subsection (3) provides that where it is proved a person has sold, imported or exported apsychoactive substance, a court can apply a rebuttable presumption that the accused knew or was reckless as to whether the substance was being supplied or acquired for human consumption. In reaching a decision on whether such a presumption should operate, the court can have regard to indications that the substance may have psychoactive effects, the presence of drugs paraphernalia at the place to which the proceedings for the offence relate and whether there is a reasonable alternative lawful purpose for the substance, taking into account its cost and quantity.

Subsection (4) provides that the court may be satisfied of the matters referred to in subsection (3) notwithstanding any oral or written statement or indication given on packaging and so on that the substance in question is not psychoactive or is not intended or fit for human consumption. Subsection (5) provides that it is a defence for a person accused of an offence under this section to prove that he or she is a person referred to in section 6(2), which ensures the lawful professional activities of doctors, pharmacists and so on will be outside the scope of the offence provisions.

Section 4creates the offence of selling an object knowing that it will be used for cultivation by hydroponic means in contravention of section 17 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977. Hydroponic cultivation is the cultivation of plants in liquid containing nutrients, without soil, and under controlled conditions of light, temperature and humidity. This method of cultivation is known to be used for the purpose of growing cannabis indoors. Hydroponic equipment is also known to be one of the products commonly sold in head shops. I am aware, however, that this type of equipment can be sold by garden centres for legitimate purposes. For this reason, I am providing that it is an offence to sell such products only when the person knows the product will be used for the cultivation of substances in contravention of the Misuse of Drugs Act.

In the general scheme of this Bill, I provided for an offence of selling any pipe or other object made or adapted for use in connection with the consumption of a controlled drug or psychoactive substance. However, in view of the urgency of the Bill, I have decided not to proceed with this provision as there are difficulties to be overcome in dealing with the fact that such objects can have legitimate uses.

Section 5provides for the offence of advertising a psychoactive substance or object to which section 4 applies. Section 5(1) provides that it will be an offence for a person to publish or display any advertisement knowing or being reckless as to whether the advertisement indicates an intention to sell, import or export a psychoactive substance for human consumption or to sell any object for use in cultivation by hydroponic means in contravention of section 17 of the Act of 1977. It also will be an offence to publish an advertisement promoting the consumption of a substance for its psychoactive effect and providing information on how or where a psychoactive substance may be obtained. It also will be an offence to publish an advertisement providing information on how to cultivate by hydroponic means in contravention of section 17 of the Act of 1977. Section 5(2) provides that it is a defence for a person accused of an offence under this section to prove that he or she is a person referred in section 6.

Section 6provides that certain categories of persons, such as doctors, dentists, etc. who sell or advertise psychoactive substances will not commit an offence if their actions are lawful for the purpose of their profession.

Section 7 provides that a garda superintendent, or higher, may serve a prohibition notice on a person where he or she believes the person is selling, importing or exporting psychoactive substances for human consumption, selling hydroponic equipment or advertising psychoactive substances. A prohibition notice will specify the activities in respect of which the garda opinion is held and the reasons for it. It will direct the person to cease immediately the activities specified in the notice and will set out the possible consequences of failure to comply with the direction specified in the notice.

Section 8 provides that where a garda superintendent, or higher, is of the opinion that a person is not in compliance with a direction contained in a prohibition notice, he or she may apply to the District Court for an order prohibiting the person from engaging in specified activities. The application must be on notice to the person concerned. The court may make a prohibition order if it is satisfied that the person concerned has engaged in an activity specified in the prohibition notice and it is necessary to prevent the person from continuing to engage in such activity. The circumstances which the court may take into account include indications that the substance may have psychoactive effects, the presence of drugs paraphernalia at the place to which the application relates and whether there is a reasonable alternative lawful purpose for the substance or object, taking into account its cost and quantity. The court may decide not to make a prohibition order where it considers that making the order would be unjust in all the circumstances of the case.

This is a civil rather than criminal procedure so the proof required will be on the balance of probabilities rather than beyond reasonable doubt. A person who fails to comply with a prohibition order will be guilty of an offence and a person who is the subject of a prohibition order may appeal the order to the Circuit Court.

Section 9 makes provision for the variation of prohibition orders by the District Court.

Section 10provides that where a person is convicted of any of the main offences under the Act, including the offence under section 8(6) of failing to comply with a prohibition order, the court may make a closure order in relation to a specified place. A person who fails to comply with a closure order will be guilty of an offence.

Section 11 provides that the District Court may vary or discharge a closure order on application by the occupier or owner of the place concerned or a garda superintendent and sets out the procedure for such applications. Sections 12, 13 and 16 provide for Garda powers to search suspects and search and seize places, vehicles, etc. Section 14 extends those powers to officers of Customs and Excise in cases of unlawful importation or exportation of psychoactive substances. I will table amendments to this section to fully ensure that there is no gap in the necessary powers available to officers of Customs and Excise to deal with this trade. Section 15provides for an offence of obstructing a garda or customs officer in the exercise of his or her functions under the Bill.

Section 17 makes provision for the designation of laboratories for the examination of substances for the purposes of the Bill. The Forensic Science Laboratory is specifically designated as such a laboratory. Section 18contains provisions relating to evidence in proceedings under the Bill. Section 19 provides for the disposal of things seized for use in evidence in criminal proceedings under the Bill. Section 20provides that a person guilty of an offence under the Bill is liable on summary conviction to a fine of €5,000 or imprisonment for up to 12 months or both, or on conviction on indictment to a fine or to imprisonment not exceeding five years or both. It also includes standard provisions regarding offences by bodies corporate and forfeiture of substances, etc. on conviction for an offence under the Bill.

Section 21is a technical jurisdiction clause. Section 22extends the powers of search and seizure of customs officers at ports and points of entry to the State for controlled drugs under section 2 of the Customs and Excise (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1988 to psychoactive substances.

Section 23will add the principal offences under the Bill to the Schedule to the Bail Act 1997. Section 2 of that Act permits a court to refuse bail to a person charged with a serious offence if such refusal is reasonably considered necessary to prevent the commission of a serious offence by that person. A serious offence means an offence listed in the Schedule to the Bail Act which is punishable by five years imprisonment or more.

Section 24 is a standard provision relating to the making of regulations and the laying of orders made by the Minister before each House of the Oireachtas, while section 25 is a standard provision regarding expenses incurred in the administration of the Bill and section 26 provides for the short title of the Bill and its commencement.

The House will appreciate that this is an important Bill which has community safety at its heart. It gives a strong message to those who seek to put that safety at risk and who seek to undermine the legal framework of this country for controlled drugs. In this Bill, I have sought to match the creative circumvention of the law by those who sell unregulated psychoactive substances with equally creative criminal and civil law provisions. These provisions not only make such trade a criminal offence, they also bestow strong powers on the gardaí and on the courts to use the less onerous civil law procedures to prohibit such sale and ultimately close down places selling such substances.

This Bill should not be seen to operate in isolation. It is a catch-all approach and, as such, a support to the more specific approach taken in the Misuse of Drugs Acts which identifies and controls specified substances. The Minister for Health and Children will continue to monitor unregulated psychoactive substances emerging on the market with a view to listing them as controlled substances, if necessary using the emergency procedure. I intend to ensure that the situation regarding head shops is proactively monitored. I will not hesitate to come back to this House with further provisions to deal with the problem if such action is deemed necessary.

I appreciate the level of cross-party support which has been expressed for this Bill. I thank the Opposition parties in anticipation of the speedy passage of this Bill before the summer recess. I accept the Bill was published only recently but we had a good debate on it in the Seanad, where it was broadly welcomed.

This is part of a multi-pronged approach. It was clear to the Government that the Misuse of Drugs Act is limited in its application when new products are coming onto the market constantly. When we signed the order on the Misuse of Drugs Act and the specified items under that order, we were under no illusion that the goalposts would be quickly shifted. While most shops closed, and in fairness to the gardaí, they were on the street within hours of the order being signed, there are clearly still shops operating. The gardaí are monitoring the 44 shops around the country to ensure they are not selling illegal products but we are under no illusion that while some have definitely closed, they are using other means to sell these illegal products. As far as we can, we have tried to stop that, particularly the sale of such products over the Internet and by home delivery.

I thank the Attorney General's office and my officials for working through the night on this. It was not easy legislation to put together, although it appears simple, to cover the criminal offence of sale, supply, exporting and importing a psychoactive substance. It will be up to the courts to determine and the prosecution to prove if such a product has psychoactive effects and that it is for human consumption.

I again thank this House for its co-operation in allowing me to bring forward this Bill as a matter of urgency and I now look forward to a full debate.

That is one aspect of the Bill. The other aspect of the Bill, which is the one that I particularly pushed in the discussions I had with the Attorney General, is the civil procedure of prohibition, notice prohibition order and closure order. This will be used more frequently than the criminal offence. As it is a civil procedure, the burden of proof is less onerous than beyond all reasonable doubt. I welcome the Bill and I thank the Deputies opposite in anticipation of support for it.

Photo of Alan ShatterAlan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I will share time with Deputies Catherine Byrne and James Reilly.

I would like to start by thanking the Minister for his good wishes in taking up the position as Fine Gael justice spokesperson. I hope we will be able to co-operate. I hope that co-operation would extend to the Minister taking on board constructive amendments proposed by this side of the House to Bills produced by him, and being willing to give support to Private Members' Bills that we produce in the public interest to address issues that the Government either has not had the time to address or, indeed, has failed to address regardless of time but which are urgent.

I would like to start off by saying that the principle of this Bill has the full support of the Fine Gael Party. We believe that there is an absolute public duty and a necessity to bring an end to the scourge of head shops and young people being lured into using psychoactive substances, some of which have had catastrophic effects for those who have taken them. Our critique of the Government is the length of time it has taken to produce this Bill. In 2008 and 2009, my colleagues, Deputies James Reilly and Catherine Byrne, called for legislation of this type. It has taken the Government too long to produce a general Bill to give the Garda Síochána powers to effectively close down head shops and have the full panoply of our criminal law available to them to prosecute those willing to exploit young people and sell to them substances that are undeniably harmful.

In the context of the Bill, I want to say to the Minister we welcome the fact that it is now before the House and Fine Gael supports the enactment of this Bill through the Dáil before the summer vacation, but this Bill, with all the work that has been done on it has flaws. This Bill can be improved, and Fine Gael will be tabling amendments to it. I hope the amendments we table will be dealt with constructively by the Government.

I want to illustrate just two or three of the defects in the Bill that need to be addressed. First, in the context of prohibition orders, it seems that a prohibition order may be sought by a member of the Garda Síochána in respect of a psychoactive substance for human consumption, so it has to be sought in respect of a specific identifiable psychoactive substance and the prohibition order will be to prohibit the sale of that individual substance. We have already learned by application of the Misuse of Drugs Act that these substances change and evolve, and there will be no difficulty in a prohibition order being made in respect of a particular substance and a head shop stopping selling that substance and selling alternative substances. One will get caught within the context of this Bill in the same difficulty that one has with the use of the Misuse of Drugs Act. That particular provision should be a prohibition on the sale of any psychoactive substance. One should be able to seek it in respect of the general sale of them and not simply in relation to a specific substance.

If there is to be an application to close a head shop as a consequence of the violation of a prohibition order, again it applies to the sale of a specific substance. This is seriously flawed and the reality is that if - in our view - psychoactive substances are being sold, at the same time as an application is made to the courts to prohibit their sale without the necessity thereafter for a prosecution, the courts should have the power to close down the head shop, pure and simple. A closure order under this legislation in all circumstances is dependent either on, first, a prohibition order being made, then a prosecution being successful for failure to comply with the prohibition order, or is dependent on a criminal prosecution being taken for the sale of substances banned by the legislation.

The problem with all of that is that if this Bill is enacted and becomes law at the end of July and if criminal prosecutions are taken, the courts go on vacation for the entire month of August; the District Court is on vacation for part of September. If prosecutions are taken, it may take a number of months for them to come to fruition and what we need is a piece of legislation through this House which facilitates immediate applications being made to the courts to close head shops. That should be a practical possibility. There is no particular reason legislation cannot be drafted on that basis on the acceptance of all sides in this House that these substances are dangerous, should be taken off our streets and they should be taken off our streets with haste. The problem with this Bill, albeit well intentioned, is that the route map one has to travel to bring about a closure is too long drawn out and it gives too great a leeway for those operating these shops to continue to do so. We will be bringing forward amendments to address that issue.

What I want to say to the Minister is this: we have for many years had a problem with a broad range of drugs, be they the type of substances now sold in head shops or the substances sold by the drug gangs who are taking over the streets of Dublin and the streets of Limerick and other parts of this country. I want to say quite clearly to the Minister that what we need and have still not got in this country is a fully focused co-ordinated campaign to end the gun law on our streets and to close down not just the head shops, but the drug gangs and drug barons who are responsible for destroying the lives of so many people in this country and who are bringing death and destruction to too many communities.

The Minister's legacy in the criminal justice area at the end of his term of office is going to be a legacy of what could best be described as gun law and the revolving door. The number of gangland killings in this State in the first six months of this year is a minimum of 12 and, indeed, there may be more. The streets of this city and other parts of the country are starting to resemble Chicago during prohibition time in the 1920s. We need not only to get the drugs off the streets, the head shops closed down, but we need to close down the drug gangs who are ravaging the community and who feel free to use firearms whenever it suits them to engage in their murderous war of attrition with each other over the patches of the community they want to reserve for themselves in the context of the sale of drugs.

Then we have the revolving door syndrome. I have a long enough memory to remember when Nora Owen was Minister in this House and Deputy John O'Donoghue used to, from the Opposition side of the House as Fianna Fáil spokesperson, make her life miserable, and he committed Fianna Fáil to zero tolerance. In the context of dealing with the drug gangs and Michael McDowell's announcement as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform in or about 2006 that he had finally closed them down and it was the end of their reign of terror, the reality is we have not had zero tolerance; we have had zero competence. The drug gangs are mushrooming, continue to exist, continue to terrorise communities, and this Government does not have a coherent plan to tackle the problem.

I want to pay tribute to the courageous members of the Garda Síochána who have successfully prosecuted a number of cases and put a substantial number of those engaged in drugs behind bars, but we are still not doing enough. They are still there. We had deaths on our streets within the last few days - two people gunned down who are known to have had criminal records and a young 14 year old, a victim of gun violence. This has got to stop and there has to be a coherent and a more organised approach as opposed to the fragmented approach that is taken and the sporadic involvement of the Minister in bringing forward emergency pieces of legislation.

We have had the Criminal Justice (Surveillance) Act 2009 to provide gardaí with power to gather intelligence in the face of witness intimidation and we had the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009 rushed through the Dáil so that gardaí could start bringing prosecutions against known gangland criminals. The result in 2010 in total, four prosecutions involving those pieces of legislation.

This is not good enough. It is not the focused approach we want. The people of this country deserve a far more coherent approach. While I welcome this legislation and the principle of it and it will be supported by the Fine Gael Party, yet again in tackling a major drug related problem it is a piece of legislation rushed into this House in the dying days of its sittings before the summer recess. While we will support its passage through the House by the end of next week it has to be improved and the gaps in it need to be addressed. I want, when this legislation goes through the Dáil and is being passed in the Seanad, the Garda Síochána to have armoury which allows it to make emergency court applications during the month of August before courts specially convened to hear their applications to bring about closure orders on every head shop in the country.

Photo of Catherine ByrneCatherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)
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I welcome this new Bill which is long overdue. It addresses a number of the issues which have been raised over the past 12 months in regard to the upsurge in head shops and the extent to which they are legally selling potentially dangerous drugs to young people in this country. While this Bill will give new powers to the Garda to close head shops and will make it an offence to sell psychoactive substances, it only scratches the surface of the drug problem in this country. I have no doubt that while the Bill will go some way towards curtailing the presence of certain drugs on the legal market, other avenues will be found by drug dealers to sell these drugs and make huge profits.

I wish to reflect on the extent of the drug problem in this country, which has brought us to today. In spite of endless promises by various Ministers and the national drugs strategy which has been in place since 2001, with a new and improved substance misuse strategy delayed until the end of the year, I regret to say that this country is slowly losing the war on drugs. While many projects and initiatives in local areas do good work, they are overshadowed by the size and strength of the illegal drug trade, and the power that drug dealers hold in many communities.

From 2002 to 2009, drugs task forces received a total of €197 million from the Government to run projects and initiatives to tackle drugs. In 2009, the Government spent €275 million across all Departments in the fight against drugs. Where has all this money gone? What good has it done for people on the street who want to find a place to live and get clean? We see no noticeable improvement on the streets or in our hospitals. There are still long waiting lists for treatment and when people come out of treatment for addiction there are little or no follow up on the services in the community.

The Health Research Boardestimates that the number of drug users in Ireland is approximately 15,000 but this is a very conservative estimate as it only reflects those who have linked in with health services. If we take into account those who have never linked into a treatment service, polydrug users, that is, those who use more than one drug, and recreational drug users, the figure would be much higher. We currently have 9,000 people in the country on methadone treatment, with no programme in place for them to become drug-free.

While some in-roads have been made by the Garda national drugs unit, drug crime is at an all-time high. According to the Central Statistics Office, drug crime in this country is up 122%. In the five years from 2004-09 it has increased at a much higher rate than any other form of criminal activity. Last year, there were 1,293 drug seizures in Irish prisons and €38.8 million worth of drugs were seized around the country. This criminal activity demands more action from Government and this Bill is only the first step.

Over the past 18 months, all in this Chamber have heard about head shops and their products which have been the focus of the media spotlight as young people across Ireland suddenly found themselves faced with more and more new outlets where they could buy drugs which have similar effects to ecstasy and cocaine at half the usual price. Many parents who were never aware that their teenagers might be experimenting with mind-altering substances were suddenly confronted with head shops on their doorstep. Parents, teachers and the Garda discovered that there was nothing they could do to put a stop to this phenomenon and the Government claimed its hands were tied. At the height of their activity, there were 14 head shops in the inner city. In May of this year there were approximately 100 shops operating nationwide. Following the banning of a number of head shop products in May, approximately 40 shops are still in operation around the country.

What many people may not realise is that head shops have been around for a long time, selling synthetic highs as well as drug paraphernalia. They were previously confined to cities and are now in operation throughout the country. However, when they began to open on street corners in rural towns communities suddenly began to take notice and ask questions. Teenagers who may never have encountered a head shop or legal highs before were suddenly presented with a golden opportunity to experiment with products such as Spice and Snow Blow.

The problem snowballed in June 2010. The Garda stated that head shops were opening at a rate of one a week. Protests by concerned parents and other action groups outside the shops made no difference and such action only helped to close the shops for a short period of time. The owners of the shops were engaged in completely reckless behaviour and had no interest in young people and the type of lives they would lead once they were introduced to drugs. While radio stations and protest groups shouted across the airwaves about what was happening on the streets the Garda's hands were tied. Many people in areas where head shops opened were in fear of their children being brought into accident and emergency departments on a nightly basis.

There are many health risks associated with psychoactive substances and according to the Health Research Board more than 90 new psychoactive substances were reported since the establishment of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction in 1997. These products, including herbal and synthetic highs which are often in the form of plant food and bath salts, present a major public health risk. Panic set in as more and more cases of young people having severe reactions to these products dominated the headlines. We have all heard the shocking stories from doctors and parents about the serious effects these products can have. Doctors and experts in emergency medicine have spoken openly on the national airwaves, giving details of how legal highs have led to severe reactions, psychosis, suicidal tendencies, anxiety, stress and hallucinations. The list goes on.

One of the main problems facing medical professionals is that nobody knows what is actually in these drugs. People are playing Russian roulette with their lives when they consume these potentially toxic substances. The Health Research Board has stated that there is no quality control measures of these substances and in instances of adverse reactions no one is accountable.

Young people in school have been affected by this problem. I have met many teachers and principals who have had to take children out of classrooms, corridors and toilets because they have been violently sick as a result of what happened to them during previous nights when they dabbled in legal highs. Our education system is very flawed when it comes to teaching young people about drugs and how to tackle the problem. We have an antiquated system involving programmes such as Walk Tall and On My Own Two Feet. Education is the most powerful tool in the fight against drugs. If we teach our children the dangers associated with drugs and educate them about the risks involved we will go a long way towards preventing experimentation and addition.

The war on drugs continues in our towns and cities which are ravaged by drug related crime and killings. Deputy Shatter has spoken about this more eloquently than I could. Many young people have lost their lives as a result of drugs, not only through addiction but also because they have been shot dead. Some of the victims were innocent, like many in this room.

The Bill will make the sale and supply of psychoactive substances which mimic illegal drugs a criminal offence, which I welcome. Gardaí will have greater powers to enter and search premises and serve prohibition notices on shops which sell psychoactive substances. It will also enable the courts to impose fines or prison sentences. Senior gardaí will now have the power to prohibit the sale of products and issue closure orders. Gardaí and Customs and Excise officers will have full powers to search premises and seize substances. However, if a prohibition notice or a closure order can only be issued by an officer at superintendent rank or higher, I fear unnecessary delays could result and, for this reason, Garda inspectors should also have these powers.

It is regrettable that the Government has been so slow to introduce appropriate legislation in this area. It seems to react only when it is backed into a corner. I have concerns about the sale of these substances over the Internet and door-to-door. Like Deputy Shatter, I would like the Bill to include further initiatives in this regard.

Our communities are being held to ransom by drugs and drug dealers. Almost every corner of Ireland has been infiltrated by drugs and every community has its own tragic story to tell. Drugs have destroyed lives and deprived many young people of a bright future. This is a sad reflection of what our society has become and we must do everything in our power to bring change for this and future generations. The Minister has my full support on this Bill.

Photo of James ReillyJames Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I welcome this important Bill. In regard to the flaws identified by my colleague, Deputy Shatter, I am concerned to know how it will address the sale of these products over the Internet. This is a major issue in respect of psychoactive substances and other drugs sold in this country. I have previously warned people about the issue because even antibiotics and long-term antidepressant medicines purchased over the Internet lack quality control.

The big problem, however, is the length of time it has taken the Government to act. Deputy Feighan raised the issue by way of parliamentary question in April 2008. Head shops were allowed to proliferate because of the Government's lethargy. I am the first to admit that legislation of this type is difficult to draft but two years is a long time to wait. During these two years, there has been at least one death involving a 19 year old woman from Kildare who died from a combination of head shop products and other illegal substances. A number of people have also been admitted to hospitals with psychiatric disturbances as a consequence of these products and some of these individuals will have lifelong sequelae.

Subsequent to the ban introduced by the Minister for Health and Children, the number of head shops fell to 33. This figure increased to 36 in the following week and to 48 more recently before dropping back to 44. We called on the Minister to issue a directive while this Bill was being prepared so that all substances sold in these shops would require approval by the Irish Medicines Board and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. This would have put the onus on the head shops but, in case they found a way around these restrictions, we also urged the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to issue a directive bringing them under planning regulations or dictating their hours of opening so that they could not stay open all night or provide home delivery services. It is outrageous that one can have illicit substances delivered to one's door at any time before 4 a.m. when we have tight laws to control substances like alcohol. Planning regulations could have prohibited the shops from opening within 10 km of schools, pubs or clubs. This would have gone a long way towards stopping their proliferation.

I acknowledge this is a substantial Bill which will address the problem, particularly if the amendments proposed by Deputy Shatter are accepted. However, several opportunities were missed in the time it took to prepare the legislation.

The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform correctly noted that because these shops are legal, people who otherwise would have noting to do with illicit drugs believe it is safe to consume the products they sell. Nothing could be further from the truth, however. These are deadly substances with horrendous consequences. They have resulted in at least one death and a greatly increased incidence of illness and demands on our health services, particularly at weekends. Dr. Chris Luke and other emergency department specialists have complained about the increased workload and dangers these substances cause.

There were significant public protests in my constituency after head shops were opened in Balbriggan and Swords. Deputy Catherine Byrne is correct to point out that the Government only reacts to public pressure and is never proactive in dealing with problems when it sees them coming down the line. I hope this Bill enjoys a smooth passage through the House. It will receive co-operation from this side of the House because these shops are a scourge our society can do without.

The wider scourge of drugs and crime remains a major issue. Deputy Shatter referred to the claim by a previous Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Michael McDowell, that gangland crime was only the sting of a dying wasp. However, while our bees might be endangered, there is little sign of the death of this wasp. I hope we will see further legislation to control drug crime, murder and the drugs trade, which is wreaking havoc in society.

At a time of economic depression and high unemployment, many people are losing hope and turning to alternative sources of solace. Rather than considering alcohol and drugs as solutions to their problems, I ask them to consider exercise, community activities and the next general election, when a change of Government will offer them a real prospect of jobs and livelihoods.

Photo of Pat RabbittePat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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I propose to share time with Deputies Joe Costello and Aengus Ó Snodaigh.

The Labour Party will support the Criminal Justice (Psychoactive Substances) Bill 2010. The pity is that it took so long for Government to respond to the rash of so-called head shops that have spread across the country. I say this because terrible damage has been done. Some of the young people seduced by what are known as "legal highs" into a drugs abuse lifestyle by seemingly legitimate shops on the high street will now seek to satisfy their newly acquired habit by other means. In the eyes of many young people, the proliferation of these retail outlets on the high street seemed to confer a kind of official approval of the products on sale.

It is disappointing it took more than 12 months for the Minister for Health and Children to produce a statutory instrument to add certain drugs to the list of banned substances under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1997. It was always the case that such a statutory instrument would never be adequate in itself to deal with this phenomenon given the ability of producers or traffickers to adjust the chemical compound. However, in the 12 months hiatus head shops spread like a bushfire and young people became hooked on legal highs. The Government is now playing catch-up. It was because of this need for a speedy response that my Labour Party colleagues, Deputies Joe Costello and Jan O'Sullivan, published the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2010, which was designed to arrest the easy proliferation of these retail outlets and control the easy change of use of conventional shops.

It was always the case that it would be necessary to legally stop new products coming on sale and replacing those that have been banned. It is a feature of the head shop phenomenon that producers have the capacity to reinvent products so as to circumvent the law on controlled drugs. I hope this Bill, designed as it is to outlaw all substances on the market which have psychoactive properties, will finally kill off this growing menace.

As colleagues on all sides of the House will testify, head shops are a menace. Advancing anecdotal evidence from medical sources shows that these unregulated products may be as harmful as cocaine or ecstasy. A number of young people have died as a result of their use of head shop products and the Minister instanced one such recent case.

In this regard, it is interesting to note that lawyers for head shop owners have focused on the definition of the term "psychoactive substance" that is expressed in terms of a "capacity" to cause certain effects, rather than by reference to any immediately identifiable characteristic. They ask "whether there is any substance which might not be regarded as having the capacity to produce one of the effects described (in Section 1) on the human body" and argue that the prospective exclusions envisaged in section 2(2) "implicitly acknowledge that a great deal of substances will be caught by the extremely broad and vague terms of the definition of a psychoactive substance under Section 1 and that it will be necessary to exclude such substances on a piecemeal basis as and when issues arise in relation to them."

It seems that the real innovation in this Bill is this very definition of the term "psychoactive substances". For this reason, I ask the Minister to reassure the House that this broader classification is not vulnerable to constitutional challenge on the basis that it is not possible for a member of the public "to ascertain fairly readily whether or not a given substance actually comes within the definition."

I refer the Minister to the 2008 case of the DPP v. Cagney where the offence of reckless endangerment contrary to the section 13 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act of 1997 was considered in detail. Hardiman J. appeared at one point to suggest that offences that were based on recklessness might well be the subject of some form of constitutional challenge in so far as they may be regarded as giving rise to offences that were impermissibly vague. He stated, "From a legal and constitutional point of view, it is a fundamental value that a citizen should know, or at least be able to find out, with some considerable measure of certainty, what precisely is prohibited and what is lawful." While I support the innovation in the description in section 1, I ask the Minister to give the reassurance I seek.

I refer the Minister to the summer edition of "Drugnet Ireland", which features an article commenting on the principle of legality which underpins the criminal law. The article notes that "following this principle, controlled psychoactive substances need to be clearly identified in any legislation that makes their possession or supply a criminal offence. Substances are generally defined individually or in tightly defined groups." The same article acknowledges that policymakers may need to bring new substances under control rapidly and acknowledges that, as a result, lawmakers face certain challenges.

In 1996 and 1997 I had the privilege of putting in place the national drugs strategy, including the local drugs task forces. Subsequent Governments have built on that strategy. The reality, however, is that opiates abuse, which was unknown outside of disadvantaged areas of Dublin in 1996, is now a fact of life in every city and town. I have no doubt the recent advent of a rash of so-called head shops across the country has assisted the spread of the drugs lifestyle.

This week, a double murder in my home area brought to 195 the number of gun murders since 1998, in respect of which there have been 23 convictions. Deputy Shatter noted that in 1997, the Fianna Fáil Party came to power on a platform of zero tolerance. That a double murder can take place in a quiet area, in broad daylight on a summer's evening, shows how far we are from achieving this objective.

Are the products on sale in head shops effectively gateway substances to more serious illegal drug abuse? Some users protest their horror at such a proposition. Nonetheless, of the surprisingly large number of people who flocked to these outlets, many are now hooked and will purchase their drugs from the criminal fraternity. This is not, however, an argument for not proceeding to criminalise a dangerous trade that has no regard for the harm inflicted on its clients or the danger it poses to public health. Nonetheless, the House needs to be reassured that the law we are enacting will be able to withstand challenge.

Central to the Minister's contribution and to the thrust of the Bill is his belief that he is "stepping in now to stymie any re-growth potential in the head shop industry." Clearly he believes that the definition in section 1 will enable him to do that. He believes the capacity for mind-altering or other effects that are described will be the catch-all and that he will manage in that fashion to surmount the difficulty the Minister for Health and Children had in simply adding a list of substances to those controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act. The feature of these substances is their ability to reinvent themselves, the ability to alter the compound and the ability in very quick time, as has happened, to come up with new products that have new names. I hope the Minister is right and that the measures he is taking will "stymie any re-growth potential in the head shop industry". However, I would like him to address that issue in terms of the safety of the definition he has set out in section 1.

I presume this is the reason for the delay. I do not understand why the Minister for Health and Children took more than a year to make the order she made. On both sides of this House we acknowledge that the capacity under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1997 was limited. However, it would have had an impact nonetheless. All it required was to add to the list of proscribed drugs the ones that were best known on offer in the head shops and yet it took more than a year to do that. The Bill that Deputy Costello introduced was also capable of making a contribution in the discovery of the easy change of use whereby if it was florist's, tobacconist's or whatever one week, it could become a head shop the following week. Our Bill would have done something to help control that. Now that we have reached this point, I hope the Minister's Bill will do what he claims. It will certainly have the full support of the Labour Party.

Photo of Séamus KirkSéamus Kirk (Louth, Ceann Comhairle)
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I call Deputy Costello and I remind him there are approximately sixteen and a half minutes left in the slot. I know it is intended that Deputy Ó Snodaigh will also be speaking in the slot.

Photo of Joe CostelloJoe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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I thank Deputy Rabbitte for sharing time with me. I welcome the legislation, the purpose of which is to give the Garda Síochána powers to seek the closure of head shops and any other premises where unlicensed psychoactive substances are sold for human consumption. The Bill makes it illegal to sell and advertise such substances. The apparent strength of the Bill is that it targets the generic product rather than the separate manifestations, which would have been the case under the Misuse of Drugs Act. If the Bill works effectively, it will end the dangerous phenomenon of head shops. The Bill is long overdue.

I have concerns over some of the cumbersome procedures relating to prohibition and closures. I wonder if they could be streamlined as I believe they will be difficult to operate. I also note that the Minister effectively relies on the Non-Fatal Offences against the Person Act for his main proposals in section 3 on the prohibition of sale, etc. Section 3(1) states: "A person who sells a psychoactive substance knowing or being reckless as to whether that substance is being acquired or supplied for human consumption shall be guilty of an offence." I hope the legislation being relied upon is tried and trusted. It dates back to 1997 and already in my constituency the Garda has been using the 1997 Act in a similar fashion. The provisions derive largely from that Act. Deputy Rabbitte queried whether there are loopholes as the definition of recklessness and so on have yet to be tested.

The history of drug abuse in Ireland is a sorry litany of State inaction. Here we come into the House three decades later and have to say that. Heroin devastated urban communities in the 1980s and 1990s. This was followed by cocaine, crack cocaine, happy pills and now we have the head shop phenomenon. What started and remained for nearly two decades as an urban phenomenon has, through the negligence and tardiness of the relevant State authorities and others, become a country-wide network of drug dealing. That is the unfortunate legacy of the States negligence and inaction. Were it not for Deputy Rabbitte, who became a Minister of State for a short period of time in 1995 to 1997 and took responsibility for this area, I am not sure anything would have ever happened. He established the local drugs task forces, which now represent the greatest barrier to the proliferation of drug abuse in the areas in which they operate. Indeed nothing has been done since Deputy Rabbitte left that office in 1997. In the past 13 years nothing has been done to review the operation, give the necessary resources and expand that initiative.

The Government has made heavy work of dealing with the phenomenon of head shops in the past three years. The number of head shops increased by more than fourfold in that time from 24 in 2007 to 102 operating throughout the country earlier this year. It has now reduced by more than 50%. The legal highs experienced by the consumers who bought psychoactive substances from those shops have caused serious health problems and given rise to an increase in hospitalisation, and there have been some fatalities. Young people were particularly vulnerable and an entire new cohort of drug consumers was created. This has particularly happened in less well off areas, such as my constituency and those of Deputies Rabbitte and Catherine Byrne. These are the target areas where something like this can spread like wildfire.

In my constituency of Dublin Central, 15 head shops were open at the height of the phenomenon, nearly all of them in the north inner city. Several incidents of violence and arson ensued. People throughout the country were frustrated with the Government's failure to act and marched on the head shops and on the Dáil. Still we saw inaction. The Minister for Health and Children dithered as she has always done. Eventually she declared her intention to ban some of the more dangerous substances under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977. However, as soon as she made that decision she then sought and found another obstacle to give her an excuse for inaction, namely, the requirement to give three months' notice to the European Commission. That was patent nonsense because anybody reading the regulations would have seen that the Commission had foreseen the possibility of a serious threat to health of substances of this nature and specifically allowed for an exemption. It took three months for the Minister to discover this section. When she applied for an exemption, she was given it overnight. She introduced the statutory instrument on 11 May 2010 and, subsequently, many of the shops have closed.

Already new products are on the market. Three week's after the Minister's ban, researchers from Trinity College identified nine new legal drugs being sold at head shops. The appearance of a number of new outlets also came about very quickly. Some have closed and others have opened. It is only a matter of time until a wide range of new legal highs is available. The so-called godfather of the head shops, who operated in my constituency, has now moved to Bulgaria to operate his empire.

Photo of Séamus KirkSéamus Kirk (Louth, Ceann Comhairle)
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There are ten minutes left in the slot.

Photo of Joe CostelloJoe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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In that context I would be worried that there might be some difficulty with substances that are licensed in one EU member state and not in another jurisdiction. There may be difficulties regarding free trade in that respect. I ask the Minister to address that issue also. We could find that substances that we have made illegal are licensed in other jurisdictions.

The initiative taken in particular by a number of agencies in my own constituency, including the Garda, Dublin City Council and the local drugs task force, has been very effective as an approach. Gardaí are very proactive and Chief Superintendent Pat Leahy personally visited every head shop in the north inner city, warning the owners and staff they could be charged with reckless endangerment. That is similar to what the Minister has said.

I will quote the relevant section of the existing legislation, the Non-Fatal Offences against the Person Act 1997, which states "a person shall be guilty of an offence who intentionally or recklessly engages in conduct which creates a substantial risk of death or serious harm to another". As a result, 13 files are currently with the Director of Public Prosecution and all of the 15 shops have closed down except for two. That was largely due to action taken under the combined approach, which also included landlords being contacted, Dublin City Council planning enforcement officers investigating for compliance with planning and the fire brigade examining the premises for health and safety reasons. Within the existing set-up there has been a concerted attack and that is what is required for the future. There must be a task force in place to monitor any initiative coming from the drugs side and which could mobilise a concerted approach very quickly.

I urge the Minister to take on board the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2010 which I tabled in the Dáil earlier this year, which would have the effect of preventing on planning grounds new head shops coming into existence. That would be desirable and could be done at the stroke of a pen even before we go into recess. It would form part of the concerted attempt to approach this problem, which is an extremely dangerous threat to the health and safety of young people in this country. We should form a multi-pronged approach and deal with the issue in a concerted fashion.

12:00 pm

Photo of Aengus Ó SnodaighAengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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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.

Photo of Mary O'RourkeMary O'Rourke (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to share time with Deputies O'Brien, Kennedy and Kenneally.

Photo of Séamus KirkSéamus Kirk (Louth, Ceann Comhairle)
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There may have been a change in the interim, but the information available to me indicates that only Deputies O'Rourke and O'Brien will be contributing in this slot.

Photo of Michael KennedyMichael Kennedy (Dublin North, Fianna Fail)
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There has been a change.

Photo of Séamus KirkSéamus Kirk (Louth, Ceann Comhairle)
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In such circumstances, the 20 minutes in this slot will be divided among Deputies O'Rourke, O'Brien and Kennedy.

Photo of Mary O'RourkeMary O'Rourke (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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In the first instance, I congratulate Deputy Catherine Byrne on her appointment to Deputy Kenny's new Front Bench. I wish her good luck in the period ahead.

I thank the Minister for bringing forward the Bill and I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on it. If ever there was legislation which tapped into the concerns of communities, this is it. We have all witnessed the proliferation of health shops in recent years. People frequent these establishments in order to purchase honey or other products which they are informed are good for their health. When head shops came into existence, the edges somehow became blurred and people believed their arrival to be a good development. They were seen as being similar to health shops but, in reality, the two are very different. As the head shops developed, therefore, the terms "health" and "head" became synonymous and these establishments were perceived to be selling health products and their operations became quickly established.

A wave of evil and a lust for money swept the land following the opening of the head shops. Those who operate these establishments refer to the range of products they sell as offering "legal highs". As a result, people were of the view that there was nothing wrong with such products and subsequently flocked to the head shops. The noisiest public meeting I ever attended was held approximately three months ago in Athlone. On that occasion, 400 people crowded into a local hotel to discuss the issue in question. At that stage there were five head shops operating in Athlone. An enormous number of mothers told their sad tales at the meeting to which I refer. It emerged that they had no control over their children who, with their friends, were flocking to these shops in order to purchase legal highs. One mother, whose tale was extremely graphic, convinced herself for a long period that her child was taking some form of health product which would do him immense good as he studied for his leaving certificate. She believed he would be healthier as a result of his consumption of this so-called legal substance. How legal were such products?

As already stated, a wave of evil and a lust for money took over. If five head shops in one small town in the middle of Ireland could flaunt their products, then how much greater was the problem in the cities and larger towns? One used to see gangs of young people - mostly young males - visiting the head shops to which I refer in order to purchase various products for later consumption. Their parents were of the view that what they were buying offered legal highs.

There is no need to use the term "gateway substances". The substances to which I refer are real and they are just as evil in nature as are other illegal drugs. However, the products sold in head shops were referred to as "bath salts" and other, equally silly, names and were labelled in such a way as to make people believe that they would increase their enjoyment. The latter is far from the truth. There is no doubt that many people were led down the road towards taking these evil substances. Those individuals would not have trodden that path but for the fact that, mistakenly or otherwise, they were enticed to enter the head shops.

As the Minister stated, the Bill has the concept of community safety at its heart. Enormous powers are granted to the Garda under its provisions. The Minister has indicated that he will not be content to just enact the legislation and hope for the best. In that context, he has indicated his desire to monitor its implementation. I was alarmed when he and Deputy Catherine Byrne stated that some 44 head shops have reopened. I presume these establishments are operating under some new name and are selling substances, which they pretend are something else but which are, in reality, illegal drugs, to young people at whatever price. RTE television showed a very good programme on this matter approximately one month ago in which the programme maker rented an apartment opposite and counted the people - young, middle aged, old, professionals, non-professionals and working class - who were frequenting the place. The numbers involved were amazing.

I wish the Minister well with the legislation. I accept Deputy Shatter's point to the effect that during the month of August the courts will be in recess. Will it be necessary to translate the powers being bestowed upon the Garda into court measures and, if so, how will it be possible to do this when the courts will not be not in session?

This is a timely measure. I am not of the view that it took a long period to emerge. Many matters had to be dealt with before the Minister and his Department were in a position to draft the legislation. I am glad that it has finally emerged. We are experiencing a modern phenomenon and the Minister referred to people ordering these substances on the Internet. Most recently it has been possible for people to telephone a number and order the drugs they wanted for delivery. The process in this regard is much the same as that used when people order meals from Chinese takeaway restaurants. It appears that the ingenuity of those who wish to peddle the substances to which I refer knows no bounds.

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Dublin North, Fianna Fail)
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I also congratulate Deputy Catherine Byrne on her elevation to the Fine Gael Front Bench. I wish her well in her new post.

This Bill, in the context of how it relates to communities, is one of the most crucial that has been introduced in the House. I first became aware of the matter to which it relates some two years ago in the town of Balbriggan in my constituency. At that time, I and three very committed members of Balbriggan Awareness of Drugs, BAD - Paddy O'Shea, Liz Fanning and Brian Kinane - met the then Minister of State at the Department, Deputy Curran, to discuss this issue. In the interim, the problem of head shops has snowballed and such establishments have opened in Swords and Malahide, which are also in my constituency.

The Minister and his staff must be commended on their ingenuity and on their ability to think outside the box in drafting this legislation. Everyone understands that simply banning substances as they emerge does not work. When passed, the Bill will have the effect of providing the Garda with the powers it requires to seek orders to shut these shops down. That is an extremely important development.

Like other Members, I have attended many meetings at which the issue of head shops was discussed. I have met many fathers and mothers whose young teenagers, in the main, have suffered serious side effects and, in particular, changes in their personalities as a result of taking these substances. As Deputy O'Rourke stated, such substances were previously referred to as offering legal highs. How, therefore, could parents explain to their teenage children that they should not take these substances, particularly when they were being sold legally?

I disagree with the argument that the closure of so-called head shops will mean that the substances to which I refer will now be sold by drug dealers and those in the illegal trade. It is not possible to impose controls on a trade whereby teenagers can go into shops and purchase these cleverly-packaged products over the counter. These substances are much more than gateway drugs.

It is crucially important that we shut down the ease of access to them.

It would be remiss of me not to mention the phenomenal community effort that has been made by people across the country. I have attended a number of marches in my constituency. The Malahide Justice and Peace group led a campaign to close head shops in Fingal, elsewhere in Dublin and throughout the country. People gave immense amounts of time to groups all over Ireland because they were concerned for their communities. The introduction of this legislation shows clearly that grass roots efforts can lead to work being done in this House to protect communities.

At a meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts a couple of weeks ago, I took the opportunity to ask the Garda Commissioner, Fachtna Murphy, whether the Garda is prepared to enforce the measures in this Bill. He warmly welcomed the measures in the legislation and assured me and my committee colleagues that the Garda will not delay in seeking closure orders to shut these shops for once and for all. Deputy Ó Snodaigh mentioned earlier that people will be inventive as they try to overcome these measures. I do not doubt that this legislation will be challenged in court. It will be a moveable feast.

This Bill will shut down the head shops, but we will have to keep our eye on the ball. The problem with the proliferation of so-called "legal highs" is that it gives people the impression that drugs are okay. Everyone knows it is not okay to buy drugs on a back street. Those who openly sell drugs in shops in Malahide, Swords, Balbriggan and elsewhere pay rates, rent and staff. They need to be completely shut down.

I am delighted this legislation will be enacted before the summer recess. It is one of the most important Bills to be introduced as part of the efforts of the Oireachtas to protect communities. I congratulate the officials in the Department of Justice and Law Reform, the Office of the Attorney General and the Garda Síochána who were involved in compiling this legislation. Other European countries are giving consideration to copying it. Ireland will be the first country in the EU to impose a complete ban on head shops. That has to be welcomed.

Photo of Brendan KenneallyBrendan Kenneally (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I would like to be associated with the good wishes that have been extended to Deputy Catherine Byrne on her elevation within Fine Gael. I wholeheartedly welcome this Bill. I congratulate the Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern, on its introduction, which is not a moment too soon. Like the members of the public I am well aware from court reports and other sources that the problems presented by head shops and their despicable products are not easy to resolve. It is not easy to try to deal comprehensively and effectively with this new threat to society. The Minister has my sympathy as he faces his task of fine-tuning this Bill and keeping up with the ingenuity and inventiveness of those involved in this vile industry.

When a number of products were listed under current legislation as controlled substances, there was always a danger that other products would emerge in their wake. When the first batch of substitute quasi-legal substances were named as controlled substances, a number of shops around the country closed. However, some people immediately found a way around this and reopened their shops.

It is a huge challenge to try to control these substances. During the passage of this legislation, we must make every effort to close every loophole as the chemical formula of the drugs can easily be changed to allow them to come back on the market again. As it is easy to modify synthetic highs, it is almost impossible and fruitless to create an effective ban on a steady stream of products. Therefore, it is pointless to keep adding to the growing list of illegal substances. Accordingly, I am pleased that the Minister has decided to take another route. I am confident this will be successful. The new system, whereby the sale of any drug that is not licensed in some fashion in this State will be prohibited, is excellent. Alcohol, tobacco and animal remedies are already subject to licence and are dealt with under separate legislation. Any drug which is not licensed in the State cannot be legally sold here. I understand the system being used in the UK under its misuse of drugs legislation, which is similar to what we use here, is not at all effective against this threat. As a result, we must use this other route.

Having examined the Bill, I note it is an offence to import or export so-called "legal highs", but not to possess them. As it is an offence under present legislation to be in possession of hard drugs, I wonder why this does not extend to the present situation. For instance, if someone were to buy these new drugs off the Internet from a hidden location in Ireland, they would not be importing them. In such circumstances, it would appear that they are not breaking the law. However, if the drugs come across our borders, they will be covered. I ask the Minister to clarify this for the House.

I congratulate the Garda on its recent major successes in confiscating large quantities of drugs and apprehending major criminals to take them out of circulation. I often wonder whether this has had a bearing on the growth of the head shop phenomenon, which is an alternative to back street suppliers. I appeal to those who promote the nonsense that it is better for legal highs to be sold on the high street, rather than through the black market, to rethink their positions. We cannot condone any drug taking, outside of what medical professionals practice in their rehabilitation programmes. We have to get away from the notion that by putting head shops out of open business, we are driving the trade underground. The fact of the matter is that we cannot stand idly by while unscrupulous individuals put the lives of young and old people at risk. Although I accept that the purchasers source and take these drugs, that does not mean we should not take action to preserve the lives and health of our community.

I appeal to those normally upright citizens whose Saturday night dinner parties finish with a line of coke, or some other so-called "recreational" drug, to consider that they are as guilty as the furtive youths in derelict buildings. The only difference is in the manner of dress and career or profession. Each of these groups maintains the drug business in this country and is tainted by the murders, violence and extortion which are part and parcel of the drug trade. I am at a loss to understand why intelligent people who are successful in their careers and respected in their communities contribute to the drug culture as they do. I commend this Bill to the House.

Photo of Michael KennedyMichael Kennedy (Dublin North, Fianna Fail)
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I join others in congratulating Deputy Catherine Byrne and wishing her well. I know she has a particular interest in this subject. I welcome the Bill. We should congratulate the departmental officials for bringing this legislation to the House. Deputies have suggested that it has not been introduced sufficiently quickly, but it is difficult to frame legislation of this nature. That fact is emphasised by the fact that our UK counterparts are coming over here to seek the advice of Irish officials. The UK has probably had a bigger problem in this area over the years.

Like many Deputies, I have highlighted the drugs issue publicly and spoken at committee meetings about the need to introduce legislation as a matter of urgency. This measure is therefore to be welcomed. This Bill, unlike some other legislation we have passed over the course of this week, will be universally welcomed throughout the country, not just in the inner-city areas of Dublin represented by Deputies Catherine Byrne and Ó Snodaigh. The activity that is to be prohibited is evident in all urban areas, as well as small towns and villages outside the Dublin area. It has already been mentioned that head shops opened in Balbriggan, Swords and Malahide, which are in my constituency. Local communities have to be congratulated on their fight to bring this case to the attention of public representatives and the Government. When people see children as young as 12 being offered legal highs, they demand instant action.

I welcome the section that will ban home deliveries and Internet sales. It is a difficult area to police and get to grips with. It is one thing to deal with visible shops on high streets - people can see who is going in and out of them - but it is another thing to deal in a definite fashion with oblique advertisements in newspapers and text messages, etc. The sale of any form of drug under an improper label is immoral. We need to introduce laws to deal with such activity.

I am concerned about the section that excludes veterinary products from these provisions. We all know about the ingenuity of those who mix and match different components. I suggest that in cities and large urban areas where there is no agricultural activity, people should require a veterinary prescription just as they require a medical prescription, because it is ridiculous that they can go in and buy veterinary products off the shelf and mix and match them.

I have raised the issue of planning permission at committee meetings and elsewhere. It is ridiculous in the extreme that our planning laws allow these shops to operate. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government should extend the law or bring in new legislation which would force local authorities to insist on planning permission. It is not right that an adjoining business should, potentially, face the danger of fire-bomb attacks, as has happened in my constituency and those of others. We need to enforce and introduce planning regulations in this regard as soon as possible. I welcome the Bill and wish it a speedy passage through both Houses.

Photo of John CurranJohn Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to share time with Deputy John Browne.

Photo of Brendan HowlinBrendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Is that agreed? Agreed.

Photo of John CurranJohn Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the opportunity to speak on this legislation, having spent almost two years as Minister of State with responsibility for the national drug strategy. While the issue of head shops has become very prominent in the media over the past six months, when I assumed my previous responsibility I became aware of it very quickly. I believe much of the preparatory work for the Bill we have before us today was done by a number of people over a considerable period of time and I would like to acknowledge some of those people in my contribution.

The problem of psychoactive substances and head shops is not uniquely Irish. I attended a UN conference on narcotics where I found it very interesting to speak, at both formal and informal sessions, to a range of delegates from countries throughout the world about how they were trying to deal with this issue. No country had managed to deal with it completely successfully because the products that are being sold are being deliberately researched and manufactured to mimic the effects of other illegal drugs and are constantly replacing those drugs. Most countries were trying to deal with the problem under legislation broadly similar to our Misuse of Drugs Act. We have used that legislation to deal with the issue and have, recently, extended the range of products covered. However, we needed to do more. The legislation being initiated today will go much further than that of any other European country.

People have argued that if we close down head shops, the product will be sold illegally. I do not dispute that, but the very presence of the head shops encourages people who would otherwise never have experimented to experiment. As the previous Minister of State with responsibility for the drug strategy, I had the opportunity to meet drug workers, visit accident and emergency units and speak to people involved in this area and I am aware of the serious long and short-term damage that has been caused to people as a result of the misuse of these substances. Over a year ago, Deputy Darragh O'Brien brought a delegation to the House before this issue hit the media. The drugs strategy we published and researched includes actions relating to head shops. Therefore, the issue was around for quite a while before culminating in this legislation.

This Bill developed as a result of a co-ordinated response of a number of Departments and agencies and a considerable effort was made to try to deal with a problem that had emerged as a result of the many ways people were trying to work around the rules and regulations in law. Some people often suggested we should licence the products. Those being sold were products "not for human consumption" and the ingredients were constantly being changed and it proved quite difficult to introduce a licensing system in that regard. I had a number of meetings with the Garda Commissioner, the Attorney General, Des Corrigan from the National Advisory Committee on Drugs, Kathleen Stack and our staff in the office of the Minister with responsibility for drugs and the Secretaries General of a number of related offices to try to develop a co-ordinated approach to dealing with the issue.

People indicated or suggested we should have planning laws relating to head shops. I have never supported this or licensing for head shops because my view is that it is the products they sell that are the problem. Therefore, we should not have the shops at all. Our legislation and our approach to it must be robust in that regard and for that reason, this legislation has evolved across a range of Departments. With regard to the use of this legislation in conjunction with the Misuse of Drugs Act, the Garda and Revenue and Customs officers have indicated their willingness and ability to tackle the range of products that have been coming through.

While taking on this legislation, it is important to recognise that the drug problem does not go away, but evolves. It is important to ensure we have procedures in place to identify the emerging problems. In that regard, I acknowledge the very useful work that is done by the National Advisory Committee on Drugs, chaired by Dr. Des Corrigan. In more recent times, the committee has become much more focused on providing accurate, timely information. Besides its longitudinal studies and research, the committee now provides fast and accurate information on emerging problems. It is only in that context that these issues can be addressed.

People have suggested that by closing head shops and closing off home delivery services and Internet sales, we reduce the problem but do not remove it, because the substances being sold will eventually be sold as illegal drugs and that this would not be much different from what we deal with in terms of ecstasy, cocaine or heroin currently. However, I believe closing them is hugely significant, because when head shops emerged, a number of people experimented with head shop products who never would have dealt with or used illegal drugs. This was frightening and quite alarming. I saw this in my area - as did Deputy Rabbitte - where there is a head shop just up the road from us. I met a number of parents and families and people who thought - this is the worrying issue - that because these products were being sold in a shop and were not illegal, it meant they were licensed, controlled or regulated. However, just because something is not illegal does not mean any quality control or standards are applied. It is because people felt a sense of security and safety in experimenting with some of these products that for some time I have been of the opinion that licensing, regulation or planning around head shops was not sufficient. My view is that the products being sold are absolutely dangerous and that our target should be to close them down. That is the direction we are going.

I am aware that other European countries are looking at this legislation to see if they can do something similar. We have also looked at what other countries have done in trying to tackle the issue of head shops, but they have not been very successful. The enforcement of this legislation will now become a focus of attention not only in this country, but in others due to the fact that the sharing of information has become more crucial in recent times. A number of countries still use their misuse of drugs legislation to reduce and minimise the range of products being sold, but this broader legislation being introduced today will make a substantial impact and will certainly close the remaining head shops as we know them. While some of the products we have seen in recent times will become illegal, the quantities of them being used, the number of people experimenting and those presenting with problems will reduce as a result of the introduction of the legislation. It is my pleasure to compliment all of those who over the past year did significant work to address the issue of head shops and their products, resulting in the legislation before us today.

Photo of John BrowneJohn Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Bill before the House. It is very important legislation and will be of major help to parents and concerned citizens throughout the country.

Some people have criticised the slowness with which the Bill was brought before the House, but, as the Minister of State, Deputy Curran, stated, so many agencies and Departments are involved it was always going to take time to prepare the legislation. From the planning perspective there are the local authorities; in addition the Departments of Justice and Law Reform, Health and Children and the Environoment, Heritage and Local Government are involved, and it is probable that other Departments have input into the legislation.

In general, the Bill is welcome. Even in rural towns and constituencies, there has been a significant increase in the number of head shops which opened in recent months. They do not appear to have to abide by any regulations, whether involving planning, health, justice or any other issue. They just open willy-nilly and sell what they want to sell without any concern for the public.

Most of the head shops that opened in my town, Enniscorthy, were situated close to nightclubs from which up to 1,000 young people might emerge at 3 or 4 a.m. They stayed open although off-licences in this area close at 10 or 11 p.m and even the pubs close at a much earlier time. Head shops did not seem to have any closure time, however, and as a result many young people were attracted to them when they came from the discos, with alarming consequences for their health. It baffled me why, if an ordinary citizen wished to open a shop in Enniscorthy, Wexford or any part of the country, he or she had to get planning permission for change of use, for example, if a sweet shop was to become a clothes shop or a clothes shop change its use. A head shop, however, could open up and operate.

In recent months there has been tremendous publicity in the national media, in print and on television and radio, about the consequences of head shops and the lack of control over them. This has highlighted the problems faced by families. There were many public meetings of concerned parents, some of which I attended, as did most other Deputies. The families were crying out for this type of legislation and for politicians to take action. We brought these complaints to the Minister for Justice and Law Reform and other Ministers. The Minister, Deputy Ahern, listened and has now implemented this legislation.

Some Deputies have proposed changes to the legislation as it moved through the Houses. So be it. If Deputies on either side of the House have good recommendations or amendments to make, the Minister should listen and take them on board. It is most important that the legislation be watertight and that we would not have a situation whereby, when the Bill is implemented, the people concerned, who are well able to create new substances and new names that can be defined as legal, will be able to sell them under or over the counter. The Minister must ensure the legislation is watertight and easily applied, that the Garda will have the necessary powers to enforce it and that health personnel will have the necessary powers to investigate what is being sold, check whether it is legal or otherwise, and deal with it.

As the Minister of State, Deputy Curran, said, many young people see the word "legal" and think the substance in question is all right to use. However, just because something is legal does not always mean it is good for a person. There is not enough information on the Internet or otherwise about head shops, their products and the effects of the products, and this is of major concern to parents. It is not only the person who takes the drug who is affected and has problems; there is the wider effect on the family and friends. Relationships within families and among friends can be ruined and there can be a profound negative effect on the dynamics and functioning of families. Family conflict can develop between parents, the person seen as the legal drug user and his or her brothers and sisters and the wider family.

Many parents have expressed serious anger to me, and, I am sure, to other politicians, about the loss experienced when a person is seriously damaged by taking these drugs, and of their shame and disappointment. Evidence emerged in March of two friends in England, a Miss Wainwright and a Miss Smith, who died from the effects of methadrone. Many other deaths are being investigated which has left parents and families very anxious.

Councillors and politicians throughout the county have received representations from families on this issue, asking us why we were being so slow to close down the head shops. We now have the legislation and it is important that we move it quickly through this House and the Seanad to ensure it is in place as quickly as possible and that there will not be a situation where head shops are allowed to open on every street corner without any regulation, rules or requirement to report to the different agencies involved.

The Minister moved very quickly but there is one area I ask him to look at, which has been raised by different Deputies, namely, planning permission. This may not relate directly to the Minister for Justice and Law Reform; the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government should be able to implement planning regulations to ensure that people who want to open shops of any kind must apply for planning permission. To that end, the Minister, Deputy John Gormley must also have a say in this legislation.

It is evident that head shops celebrate and facilitate a culture of drug abuse and dependence in the same way as illegal drug operators do. It is made too easy for young people when there is a shop on every corner selling these substances very cheaply. Some people might never have taken these drugs if it had not been as easy as it is at present to acquire them, given the number of head shops throughout the country. The paraphernalia and products sold show how anti-social these establishments have become. It has been said that one head shop has opened every week in Ireland during the past year. This is an unpleasant reality but it is important to realise this is not only an Irish problem but worldwide. It is also important to recognise that the Minister has acknowledged the problem in this country. Ireland is probably the first country to try to deal effectively with this.

I fully support the Bill. I ask the Minister to ensure it goes through both Houses as quickly as possible. If spokespersons or any Deputies on either side of the House have any good amendments to propose, the Minister should consider taking them on board to ensure the Bill is as watertight as possible, and that it reflects the current concern of society, particularly that of parents.

Photo of Cyprian BradyCyprian Brady (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to share time with Deputy Trevor Sargent, if that is permissable.

Photo of Brendan HowlinBrendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Agreed.

Photo of Cyprian BradyCyprian Brady (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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I very much welcome the opportunity to contribute on this Bill. Not only is it an urgent requirement, it is a critical piece of legislation. My experience in the constituency of Dublin Central tells me that in a very short space of time a very lucrative business built up, fooling people in general and young people in particular into taking so-called legal highs. It is a very sinister development. This legislation, in conjunction with other measures already put in place and those planned, will ensure that our young people, in particular, are protected from from these sinister substances.

The Bill makes it an offence to sell, import or export unregulated psychoactive substances for human consumption. A welcome development in regard to this legislation is that the traders who sell these substances can no longer hide behind the sinister practice of selling substances as plant food, bath salts or incense when it is patently obvious to them that the substance they sell will be consumed in some form, whether smoked, injected, inhaled or swallowed.

We have had head shops in Dublin Central for the last 15 years. They quietly did their business and there was never an issue with them, but over the last two and a half years, there has been an explosion of them. At one stage we had four. We then went to 17 and we ended up at the start of this year with over 30 in my constituency. These 30 shops were open all hours every day and quite a number of them were adjacent to primary and secondary schools. Others were adjacent to pubs and nightclubs, where young people gather in big numbers. There was obviously much thought put into the siting of many of these head shops. The shops would not have worked in some areas, but their owners certainly picked sites and premises they knew would work. Anecdotal evidence exists about the money which passes through these premises. It is a huge business.

This Bill gives the Garda Síochána the opportunity to take firm and direct action on the illegal sale of substances. It gives the power to the Garda and to the courts to close unscrupulous traders who ignore a notice to cease. They do that by means of prohibition and closure orders. That is a direct power given to the Garda to take firm and direct action.

Numerous groups and organisations, schools and different church groups have come to me and other public representatives in my area to speak about the harm these shops are causing. There was a deliberate targeting of young people for the sale of some of these substances. There were queues of young people outside premises in my area in the early hours of the morning trying to buy them. Word of mouth spreads very fast in a young community even without advertising. Leaflets were later sent around houses offering delivery services. Other anecdotal evidence suggested that vehicles were being used to deliver substances to various different locations around the north inner city.

The worrying aspect about all this was that by promoting so-called legal highs, it misled people into thinking that the substances are safe to use. People who would not ordinarily get involved in taking any kind of stimulant other than alcohol took these substances even though they had no idea what effect it would have on them. Those who are unfortunate enough to be addicted to drugs in the first place were taking substances in conjunction with illegal drugs and this had serious implications for their health. People who were trying to get rid of their habit were under constant pressure because these shops were open at all hours of the day and night selling these mind altering substances. One head shop was within 20 yards of a major drug treatment centre in the north inner city. People who had received their methadone treatment and carried out their tests were walking straight across the road into a head shop to buy other substances.

The problem with many of these substances related to a complete lack of information on the ingredients, the provenance of the products and their effects. There is absolutely no quality control and a totally misleading system of labelling. There is no acceptance by those who are selling these products that there are dangerous consequences for the people to whom they sell. We spend millions of euro developing medical products in this country and the pharmaceutical industry is one of our biggest employers. Huge sums of money are put into research and development, testing and control of these substances, yet people can make a phone call and order for delivery a substance the effects of which nobody knows. That is quite ironic.

This Bill will help solve a lot of these problems, along with other measures that must be in place. The listing of further substances under the banned substance list at the Department of Health and Children is crucial. We are spending €250 million per year implementing the drugs strategy. There are five pillars to the strategy, and these pillars include rehabilitation, education and policing. We are spending all this money on protecting our children from drug abuse, yet these people have been able to come in and sell mind-altering substances indiscriminately. That is why I welcome the Bill.

A multifaceted approach must be taken to this. In his opening remarks, the Minister mentioned the different Departments working closely with the Office of the Minister for Drugs, the National Advisory Committee on Drugs, the Garda Síochána, Customs and Excise, the forensic science laboratory, the Irish Medicines Board and the Health Research Board. All these State agencies are involved in trying to ensure that our young people are not left open to abuse by unscrupulous people who will literally sell them anything at any time of the day or night, will charge them dearly for it, and will not acknowledge that there are mental health consequences, physical health consequences and social consequences for their families and their wider communities. There is no recognition of that.

This is Bill is crucial in ensuring that the illegal sale of mind-altering substances is kept tightly under control, is tackled head on and that communities do not suffer as a result.

Photo of Trevor SargentTrevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)
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Ba mhaith liom ar dtús báire buíochas a ghabháil leis an Teachta Brady as a chuid ama a roinnt anseo ag an díospóireacht atá an-thábhachtach i mo cheanntar féin agus ar fud na tíre gan amhras.

I congratulate Deputy Byrne, Deputy Shatter and my constituency colleague, Deputy Reilly, on their elevation to the positions they hold on the Fine Gael front bench. I notice that Deputy Reilly is not the first deputy leader of Fine Gael from Dublin North. I do not think it is requirement for the job, but it certainly does not seem to do any harm.

I thank the Minister for bringing this comprehensive, innovative and hopefully effective Bill before us. I am glad it has widespread support for its early implementation, using civil procedures that are not unlike procedures with which I was familiar as Minister of State with responsibility for horticulture and food. A premises can be closed down by the Food Safety Authority if it is doing damage to people's health and the head shop certainly falls under that category and needs legislation in it own right. I know the Garda Síochána will welcome the opportunity of using these powers, because gardaí are bedevilled by the anomaly of head shops in communities that are vehemently opposed by communities, but which nonetheless seem to have found a way of continuing to operate under the radar from a legal point of view. As the Minister said, the veneer of respectability high street premises can give to those who trade in these products must be ended, and that will be ended by this legislation. I hope this form of endangerment, particularly of our young people, will no longer be given that veneer of respectability.

I am speaking as a Deputy who represents Dublin North but also as one of the founders of the Balbriggan Awareness of Drugs Group, to which previous speakers referred, some 15 years ago when community activists bravely came together to confront the threatening behaviour and the scourge of drugs in some communities. People such as Liz Fanning and Margaret Wilde, Brian Kinane, Paddy O'Shea and Fran Carroll confronted intimidatory type of behaviour to bring together the community and to give the example of a community standing up for itself, not in a vigilante way but in a way that was focused on helping other parents who may have felt they were unable to cope with the peer pressure their children were under to dabble with drugs.

That legacy has built up a strong tradition of parent to parent courses. The Government has recognised the importance of the courses and I hope it will continue to support them in every way possible and face up to the challenges in this area. Many of the people who avail of them would, on reflection, probably be the people who are best equipped to deal with this issue. It is the people who are most vulnerable who seem to be the most reluctant to reach out and help either because of fear or a feeling of being overwhelmed, or for some other reason. We have a responsibility to try to continue to reach the people who are most vulnerable.

Those parent to parent courses provide a very useful service. They have been added to by the community policing fora around the country. In my area people such as Ena Norris, Zoe Nelson and many others are active, from a voluntary point of view, in providing that link with the Garda Síochána in the community and in the youth area, particularly in youth services such as like Balbriggan Youth Service and Foróige. People such as Derval Cumiskey must also be commended for working along with the Garda to provide an effective response.

As the Minister said, the Forensic Science Laboratory will also have an important role to play in this area. It should be given the necessary resources and be in a position to carry out that work because it seems it will continue to be fairly extensive. That is an issue on which I would seek reassurance. I am sure the Minister has given it considerable thought.

Deputy Reilly mentioned that from a planing point of view, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, could also take action to tackle this issue. I have spoken to the Minister, Deputy Gormley, about this on many occasions and it is and has been considered in his Department but given, as the Minister, Deputy Dermot Ahern, said, that the issue of head shops and the substances being devised is such a moving target, it is far from adequate to deal with this issue from a planning point of view. That has been the Government's response. It is based on sound evidence that addressing this issue needs to follow the course we are taking, and this response is the most comprehensive way of dealing with it.

Other supplementary measures may be needed but this is where our focus needs to be right now. Our focus also needs to be in the communities where even if a head shop has been closed, there will still be peer pressure, a vacuum and a yearning, for whatever inexplicable reason there might be, for people, essentially, to get out of their head on some substance or other. That is reason I believe bodies such as the Blanchardstown Area Partnership, which help many communities not only in Blanchardstown but throughout Fingal, and the Balbriggan Aware of Drugs Group, with its parent to parent courses, all need support, along with the other important services provided by the organisations such as Foróige. They will all continue to be relied upon by communities, particularly parents caught up in the problems being experienced in many of our communities owing to legacies of bad planning or lack of facilities, which continues to be a challenge for us.

I welcome this legislation and thank the Minister and his Department, the Minister of State, Deputy John Curran, before him, and all others who have worked on this issue over the years and in recent months. It is appreciated that those of us who made submissions such as that made by the Balbriggan Awareness of Drugs group last year to the Minister of State, Deputy Curran, when he had the role of dealing with the drugs strategy, should now also be credited and feel a sense of appreciation that their recommendations have been taken on board in regard to the laws dealing not just with head shops but home deliveries, Internet sales and all the aspects with which we have to deal in this legislation.

1:00 pm

Photo of Dermot AhernDermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I am grateful for the general welcome from all sides of the House for this legislation and thank Deputies for their comments on it. There was criticism in some of the comments regarding the alleged lack of action by the Government in this respect but I reject that criticism. As I said earlier, when we contacted the EU Commission on this issue it indicated that it was at the preparation stage of having a European-wide proposal for a directive in regard to this area; therefore, we are ahead of it in that regard. Equally, when I travelled to the United Kingdom recently where I met my ministerial counterpart, Theresa May, one of the questions the people there specifically asked was to see what we were doing and they were intrigued with the novel way in which we were addressing this issue both, as they were, in dealing with it in a specific way from the point of view of the Misuse of Drugs Act but also by adopting a belt and braces or the catch-all approach with the introduction of criminal legislation. A considerable part of the discussion I had with my counterpart, Theresa May, which was my first meeting with her, was focused on the authorities in the UK wanting to have contact with our officials subsequently to go through the type of legislation we are bringing in.

There was also some criticism on the issue of gangland crime. I do not think there has been any person who has been as active as me as Minister in addressing this issue in recent times. While Deputies in Fine Gael approved and welcomed the legislation I brought through, particularly the gangland crime legislation, the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009, known also as the surveillance Act, this time last year they wanted its introduction deferred until after the summer months when the Dáil was not in session. I was adamant that it should proceed quickly to ensure it would be on the Statute Book in view of the fact that criminal law is not retrospective. If anything had happened over the summer months, the criticism of the Government, and of politicians generally, would have been that we would have been on our holidays while some awful event had happened and this legislation was not in place.

The Labour Party, as usual, spoke out of both sides of its mouth in that it called for action but then when it got action - I put on the record at that time quotes from people such as Deputies Rabbitte and Gilmore who called for action on tackling gangland crime - it, in effect, opposed it although ultimately it approved it but again it found fault with it. Even just last week, Deputy Rabbitte seemed to suggest that we did not require the renewal of the gangland legislation, as we are required under the legislation to renew it every year.

However, we on this side of the House do not have the luxury of simply proposing provisions without examining them thoroughly. The Office of the Attorney General has long experience in vetting legislation to ascertain its constitutionality, and every amendment proposed by the Opposition, from whichever party, must be reviewed by that office.

I would have liked to see the legislation going further in regard to the issue of prohibitions and closures, as Deputy Shatter proposed. However, as I said, we do not have the luxury of putting down amendments with no thought for the implications in terms of constitutionality. There are certainly constitutional issues in regard to the ability of the Garda Síochána to enter private property and take action on foot of that. Everything must be carefully calibrated, as we have done in this legislation. We on this side of the House would be delighted to allow the Garda to go in immediately and close these enterprises down but, as Deputy Ó Snodaigh pointed out, given the lucrative nature of this trade there will undoubtedly be people hell bent on testing the constitutionality and legality of the legislation. That is why, in the framing of the prohibition notice, prohibition order and closure order provisions, we had to be extremely careful not to tramp on the constitutional guarantees in regard to the right to private property and the assumption of innocence until proven guilty. However, I will give due consideration to any Opposition amendments in this regard. Deputy Shatter has indicated his intention to introduce such proposals.

Deputy Rabbitte raised concerns about the definition of psychoactive substances and the danger of inadvertently including harmless substances within the scope of this legislation. We were very careful about this issue in the drafting of the Bill, taking advice from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation and several other Departments on the types of substances that might inadvertently and erroneously come within its scope. That is why we inserted section 2 which excludes certain medicinal products and other items. The Bill also gives the Minister power, in the unlikely event that unintended consequences were to arise from the provisions of the Bill, to exclude the substance in question. The definition we have included is based on, and build upon, the definition contained in Article 24A1 of the 1971 United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances.

Deputy Costello raised the issue of products that may be licensed in other European Union member states and asked whether that would have implications for free trade. The Bill expressly provides for the exclusion of medicinal products as defined by the Irish Medicines Board. If a medicinal product is appropriately authorised elsewhere in the European Union it will be outside the scope of the Bill.

Deputy Ó Snodaigh referred to the absence of provision for expertise to determine whether a substance is psychoactive. The Bill does not operate on the basis of identifying particular substances; that is a matter for the courts to decide on a case-by-case basis. We have taken a more general approach in the Bill. We have had detailed discussions with the forensic science laboratory which in turn has had discussions with other experts. However, because new substances will continue to emerge form the product line, those experts will remain on a learning curve. They will have to acquaint themselves with best international information as to what is happening in China, for example, and other places where these types of substances are produced. They will have to learn from best international practice and be at the top of their game if they are to prove in court that a new substance is a psychoactive substance intended for human consumption, according to the definition in this legislation.

Deputies Catherine Byrne and Reilly raised the issue of the sale of products on the Internet. As I said, the Bill proposes to make it an offence to sell, import or export psychoactive substances for human consumption, including by means of electronic communication or via the Internet. The Customs and Excise will be responsible for monitoring the entry into the State of products through our airports and ports. Some of the websites in question are hosted from outside the State and it is virtually impossible to stop them. We can only have a significant impact from a legislative and legal point of view in terms of closing down websites that are hosted in Ireland, but it is a problem if they are hosted abroad. The best way to deal with the practice is to intercept the products as they enter the country. As I said, we will endeavour to stymie the growth in this form of trade. If necessary, we will come back to the Oireachtas if we conclude that further action is required. We are chasing a moving target.

Deputy Reilly suggested that the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government should amend planning laws to deal with head shops. The Minister of State, Deputy Curran, dealt with this issue in his contribution, and it is being reviewed by several Ministers. The Minister for Health and Children, for example, does not have only the Misuse of Drugs Act to deal with head shops; she also has a range of other legislation at her disposal, including the Poisons Act and health and safety legislation. These have been reviewed by the environmental health officers attached to the HSE who have been active in this area in conjunction with the Garda.

Deputy Kenneally asked why possession is not an offence under the Bill. There are difficulties in doing so as a consequence of the general nature of the Bill. For instance, a criminal offence of possession would criminalise the possession of certain industrial substances which may have a psychoactive effect. The intention of the Bill is not to criminalise legitimate business but rather to target the activities of those who sell unregulated psychoactive substances for human consumption. We are not targeting regulated psychoactive substances that are not for human consumption.

I look forward to the subsequent Stages of the Bill which will be taken next Tuesday. As I said, I will be as accommodating as possible in regard to amendments. Ultimately, however, I am obliged to accept the advice of the Attorney General as the constitutional lawyer attached to the Government who gives advice on the legislation we put through the House.

Question put and agreed to.

Photo of Brendan HowlinBrendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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When is it proposed to take Committee Stage?

Photo of Dermot AhernDermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Next Tuesday, 6 July 2010.

Sitting suspended at 1.15 p.m. and resumed at 1.30 p.m.

Sitting suspended.