THE MINISTER for Community Affairs wants to prevent head shops from trading in addition to banning the substances they sell, an Oireachtas committee was told yesterday.
Pat Carey hoped the heads of a Bill on criminalising the sale of unregulated psychotropic substances would be available “in a few weeks time”.
However, Mr Carey wanted to “go further” and prohibit the head shops opening as a retail entities.
It was preferable to introduce legislation that would close head shops but that could not be applied retrospectively, he said.
Members of the Committee on Arts, Sport, Tourism, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs criticised the Government for waiting the three-month notification period required for EU approval to ban substances. As a result, a ban on certain head shop products will not come into force until mid -July.
The Government did not have to wait for EU approval when there was a public safety issue, said Fine Gael TD Michael Ring.
There was a “sense of urgency” and there must be a loophole to end head shops “sooner rather than later”, said Fianna Fáil TD Michael Kitt.
However, breaking the notification period and pre-empting EU approval would put subsequent prosecutions in jeopardy, Mr Carey said.
Whatever laws were introduced would be challenged by the “lucrative” industry which would have the “best legal representation money can buy”.
For this reason he was anxious not to rush measures but to “get it right”, and wanted “robust and watertight legislation to combat the pernicious and insidious influence on society”.
It was also “entirely possible” that the industry would stay “ahead of the bans” by altering the composition of substances, he said.
Additional possibilities were insisting the shops close at 10pm and have to apply for licences the same way off-licences do, he said. Every piece of action will make it more difficult for them to operate, he added.
The proposed product ban would not end problems because shops would simply change products, Fianna Fáil TD Michael Kennedy said. He urged Mr Carey to “regulate the shops out of existence” using planning laws and insurance requirements.
The committee collectively proposed to the Government that a pre-sale licence on the sale of products by head shops should be introduced.
Mr Ring urged politicians and the media to use the term “drug shops” instead of “head shops” because there is “no respectability in selling drugs”.
He showed the committee a leaflet offering home delivery services of head shop products at the weekends, and asked Mr Carey how to deal with the situation.
