James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Question 509: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if, taking into account the comments of a member of the Judiciary recently reported in the media, contesting the fine of €3,000 for smoking cigarettes to the fine of €100 for smoking or possession of cannabis, he has plans to bring the cannabis fine up to a more realistic effective level as the very low €100 fine seems to indicate a State tolerance of the smoking of cannabis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9135/08]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The State does not take a benign view of the possession of cannabis for personal use. This is borne out by the large number of successful prosecutions annually for simple possession of controlled drugs and by the significant seizures of cannabis made by the Garda authorities, €11.72 million (provisional figures) so far this year. Section 3 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 provides that possession of a controlled drug (which includes cannabis and cannabis resin) is a criminal offence. Section 27 of the 1977 Act as amended by section 6 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1984 sets out the maximum penalties for this offence and in doing so draws a distinction between cannabis and cannabis resin and any other controlled drugs. Section 27(1) sets out a tiered system of penalties where the relevant controlled drug is cannabis or cannabis resin and the court is satisfied that the person was in possession of the controlled drug for his or her personal use. The system of penalties is as follows:

I will draw the Deputy's comments to the attention of my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, who has primary responsibility for the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977.