Present Tense: More than €10 million worth of cannabis was seized in a raid on a criminal gang in Kildare this week.
The amount was so large that, added to the €1 million worth seized in another recent raid, we are already close to topping the €15.6 million total seized in all of 2007. And will this make a difference to supply? Barely.
In the current issue of Hot Press, there is an interview with the Minister of State with responsibility for drugs, Pat Carey. "The 'war on drugs' business, let's stop using that aul' jargon," he says. "This kind of top-of-the-head stuff to grab headlines is irresponsible . . . this does not contribute to the public debate." How sensible. Except that Carey is pictured wearing a large badge containing the phrase "Say no to drugs" - which is aul' jargon that is as empty-headed now as it was when championed during the 1980s. Saying no to drugs is not something this society has done before. A bright shiny badge isn't going to be the tipping point.
Further into the interview, Carey is asked if he differentiates between hard and soft drugs. "Even over in Britain with their declassification of drugs, our approach to cannabis would be more benign than theirs," he answers. "I'm not suggesting that we turn a blind eye, but there's a protocol where the Garda give cautions for personal use. Now, if somebody decides to turn their farm or back garden over to growing it, that's a different matter." A "protocol"? So, yes, there is a differentiation and a blind eye is turned.
Publicly, the Garda are not so conciliatory. "The Garda Síochána don't differentiate between hard drugs and soft drugs," the head of the drug squad, Det Chief Supt Cormac Gordon says in a separate Hot Press interview. But clearly they do in some cases. Pat Carey has already said as much.
In fairness to the Minister, he is guiding through a new drugs strategy, and his Hot Press interview includes a bit more realism on the subject than the badge on his lapel might first indicate. But if the State's attitude to personal use of cannabis really has become more sensible, at what point should that lead to a more radical approach?
Britain has this week been debating cannabis. Once again the question of its classification is up for review, with Gordon Brown having touted the idea of reclassifying it from class C back to the more serious class B. During the course of the review, the true nature of the drug's psychological risks have been discussed, as have its impact on hospital and counselling services, the drain on police resources and the type of marijuana now being smoked (much more home-grown skunk, it turns out).
Reclassification has led to a proliferation of cannabis farms in the UK, which has caused problems for the police there, although it has arguably also shortened the criminal supply chain. But more notable is how cannabis use has actually dropped in the four years since reclassification - with the biggest fall being among 16-24 year olds. Arguments that people would see the change in the law as official permission to roll up don't appear to have been borne out.
Ireland's classification scheme is different, with cannabis rated as a Schedule 1 drug, meaning that it is very strictly controlled. Still, the Misuse of Drugs Act singles out possession of cannabis for personal use as being worthy of a lower sentence, compared to other illegal substances. So, once again, a double standard is applied. Cannabis is very serious, but not too serious, so we don't treat it as seriously as other serious drugs.
Regardless, it remains the country's favourite illegal drug - despite the blizzard of cocaine headlines. One in five 18-64 year olds have used it at some point in their lives, and that figure is creeping towards one in four. If the Government really believes that Ireland is leading the way in our attitude to cannabis, then we should ask why the UK's more public, honest and clear-cut change in stance has coincided with a drop in usage?
And if the Government is proud that the UK is "catching up" (as Noel Ahern once put it) with our "benign" attitude to cannabis, then should we not seriously consider moving further ahead? As it is, enormous Garda resources are being put into the Sisyphean task of stopping the importation of a drug that even the Minister admits isn't always a big deal. And the ones who benefit most are the criminal gangs - providing, of course, they can evade the police. While Ireland is hardly alone in this, it still makes you wonder what you'd need to be smoking to believe that this is the best way to deal with the issue.
