IRELAND’S LEGAL DRUG HAVENS ‘HEADING’ FOR TROUBLE – THE GUARDIAN

Shrouded behind shelves of psychedelic paraphernalia and rails of gothic apparel the strobe lighting illuminates a pick and mix laden assortment of concoctions.

The kaleidoscope of herbal and synthetic legal highs on show is as vibrant as the debate currently taking place in Ireland surrounding the ‘headshops’ that home them.

What Helen can’t say is that the cheap and legal highs her store sells are marketed as bath salts or incense but designed to be smoked, snorted or swallowed. They mimic what can be bought illegally on the streets but Helen’s customers cannot be prosecuted for purchasing them.

“What people do with them outside of this shop is nothing to do with me; it’s not my responsibility in a legal sense. This puts us in a very difficult position as we cannot explain properly to people.”

Helen is now part of a growing industry for legal drugs which has become a multimillion Euro business in the Republic. Opening at a rate of one per week Ireland now had over 100 headshops; more per capita than any other country in Europe.

Further up the Atlantic coastline Ennis in County Clare has become a hotbed for the ensuing debate which is being stirred with a particular ferocity in small town Ireland.

“A lot of the Irish mentality is; sure what can you do, they’re going to open again, they’re going to change the products, but there’s a lot people in Ennis alone who have serious drug problems and they’re going into these headshops. Its driving them crazy and someone has to make a stand”, says Maria Ryan, mother of two and chairperson of a local parents against headshops action group.

Sitting at the cross roads of the town centre ‘The Height’ of Ennis, an historical place of consequence with the Republican movement in Ireland, stages their petition drives and acts as a meeting point for the ‘gathering of the troops’ who regularly picket against the two headshops that recently sprung up in the town.

“Everyone’s coming to sign our petition which we intend to deliver to the government. They are worried about people taking these products to help them diet, to help them sleep and mixing them with illegal drugs. The psychological effects are fierce”, adds Maria.

The fervour of debate has left few willing to voice support for headshops with even the owners of the local outlets in Ennis shunning media enquiries.

Angela Kiely though has no problem about waving her banner in the face of the crowd, “I don’t care about the stigma, they’re all just being hypocritical, jumping on the bandwagon. I don’t use the headshops here often, I prefer to go to Limerick where there’s a bigger selection. Its my freedom of choice and personally I prefer to stick to herbal products but whatever.”

With the high times no more in Ireland the legal highs offer a ‘Quick fix’ according to Dr. Moosajee Bhamjee, a local consultant psychiatrist, “People are finding the price of alcohol so high they are turning to these products. Wherein the problem lies is that they have not been tested or regulated.”

Despite some support from Dublin with plans to bring in new legislation in the coming months the anti-headshop protestors say the Irish government under the leadership of Minister for Health, Mary Harney has been inhospitable towards taking any strong action against the controversial trade.

“We’ve tried to deliver our petition but no one from Mary Harney’s office came out to receive it” says Maria after a recent trip to the Dail, the lower house of the Irish parliament, “but we are going to regroup now and we will be back with many more names.”

With newspapers, television and talk radio tackling the issue daily, “We’re beginning to feel like cockroaches, just fit to be stamped on”, describes Helen back down in the Funky Skunk.”

As she turns off the lights on another lucrative day of trading she says “What we actually need is a real debate, including the doctors, chemists, government and traders. But I don’t see it happening, they will bring in their new regulations and we will bring in new products.”

This article was written for The Guardian

Leave a comment