Ahern: New laws will see head shops closed for good

HEAD shops will be closed for good this summer, once new legislation is enacted in the summer, Justice Minister Dermot Ahern has predicted.

Last month, the Government introduced separate measures to ban a range of so-called “legal highs” – psychoactive substances serving as substitutes for illegal drugs. But it admitted at the time that head shops would counteract the ban simply by changing the composition of some of the substances or introducing new products.

As a result, it signalled its intention to introduce legislation that would target head shops in a more general way. Details of that legislation were announced yesterday by Mr Ahern, who said he expected it to become law before the Dáil rises for the summer.