Parents take to the street over headshops

PARENTS concerned at the ongoing operation of headshops in Ennis have organised a petition on the streets of the county town this Saturday.
Maria Ryan, chairwoman of Colaiste Muire parents’ association and Councillor Paul O’Shea are spearheading the petition and are calling on anyone who is worried about the effects of substances being sold in headshops to sign the petition, between 10am and 6pm this Saturday in O’Connell Square, Ennis.
“The purpose of this petition is again to raise awareness about headshops. We are asking landlords to be vigilant about who they are leasing premises to and encouraging insurance companies not to give insurance to operators of headshops. Until proper legislation is in place to deal with headshops, all we can do is make it very difficult for headshops to operate. Landlords to a large extent don’t seem to be aware that headshops are being run in their premises,” Maria said.
She said that the petition would highlight their concerns about the substances being sold in headshops, particularly in light of three deaths in the past week in the United Kingdom linked to the use of m cat (mephedrone).
Maria added that she is personally connected to someone who has suffered very grave effects of “mainstream drug use”.
“He is currently on remand from the courts and has gone through rehabilitation for drug use, and is on medication for a psychotic condition. Personally, I fear that if he takes substances from headshops, he will go back into states of psychosis. Because headshops are legal, he can walk into a headshop and buy anything he wants. Given his medical history and the medications that he is on for mental illness, God only knows what effect this would have in a cocktail with substances from a headshop,” she remarked.
She said that she would bring the petition to the Dáil to further highlight the concerns of parents. “We started a trend with the protest we held two weeks ago, as Clontarf similarly held a protest the following week. We will probably start a trend with this petition too,” she added.
Meanwhile, Labour Councillor Paul O’Shea has said that the deaths of two teenagers in Britain last week and another reported death of a teenage girl this week after they had consumed mephedrone should be strong grounds to ban the substance, which is widely available in headshops in Ireland, immediately.
“The Government has delayed taking action to date on the grounds that an immediate ban would create a restriction of trade under EU regulations. However, it is already banned in a number of EU countries including Norway, Germany and Finland,” said Councill O’Shea.
“There is a specific exemption for special circumstances in Directive 98/34/EC that states that a member state is obliged to prepare technical regulations without the necessity for consultation in a very short space of time in a case where there is a risk to public health or safety. Moreover, the principle of subsidiarity allows each member state to act in matters pertaining to the health of the citizens of the country,” he explained.
“The Government, which has now determined that mephedrone is a dangerous substance, should be asserting its right to protect its citizens immediately. Instead, the Government has signalled its intention to ban mephedrone and other named drugs in June that are sold legally in headshops at present.”
Councillor O’Shea said that by June, synthetic drugs like mephedrone may well be altered with new ingredients making their proposed definitions under the Misuse of Drugs Act inapplicable.
Fine Gael county councillor Martin Conway has also called on the Government to immediately re-think its objections to regulate and control headshops proposed by his party’s deputy leader Richard Bruton.
“The majority of Irish people are totally opposed to the operation of headshops.
Richard Bruton has put forward a number of Dáil proposals but the Government has refused to implement these measures, in spite of the overwhelming need to regulate this sector. These measures would make it extremely difficult for anyone to open or run a headshop in Clare or indeed anywhere in Ireland,” he said.
Deputy Bruton had introduced an amendment to the Finance Bill to require headshops to have an operating licence, suggesting it should cost in the region of €100,000 to obtain such a licence, said Councillor O’Shea, but the Minister for Finance rejected the amendment.
He also said that Fine Gael has proposed to change the planning laws.
“Currently headshops can open without any planning application to the council for a ‘change of use’. They should have to apply to the council like anyone else. This would give concerned residents the opportunity to voice their objections. Fine Gael has also called on the Minister for the Environment to issue a regulation to control the opening time of these shops.”
He added that while Fine Gael supports the banning of a rang of substances, as proposed by the Government, they are worried that this will be a long delayed process because EU approval is necessary and that “the headshops will produce substitute products in a cat-and-mouse game to bypass the ban”.