New laws will counter second wave of legal highs

THE Department of Health has drawn up further legislation to outlaw a new wave of “head shop” drugs which are hitting the Irish market.

Head shops caused huge controversy following a surge in the sale of substances which mimic the effects of cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis.

In response to this, the Psychoactive Substances Act 2010 was passed banning a long list of “legal highs”.

However, although the move was hailed as the ultimate crackdown, there were warnings that manufacturers would simply re-modify the chemical structure of the drugs to circumvent the law.

This prediction came to pass and now the department is set to seek the Government’s approval to ban a new range of psychoactive head shop substances, including Whack, Amplified and Iced Diamonds.

According to a spokesperson for the department, a memo will be brought to the Government “very shortly” seeking approval to refer new legislation to the EU under the Technical Standards Directives.

After the legislation has been referred to the EU, and assuming there are no objections from other member states, a government order will declare the substances to be controlled.

The Department of Health said it did not wish to disclose the full detail of what is being proposed before the legislation has been referred to the EU and the Government, but said that it would cover a “broad range” of psychoactive substances.

Since last May, the number of head shops has fallen from more than 100 to about 20.

The department has been working closely with the Department of Justice, gardaí, the customs service, the Forensic Science Laboratory, and the IMB with a view to bringing any new substances under control.

Last May’s legislation saw a ban on more than 200 legal highs which had been on sale in head shops and over the internet.

This meant that the import, export, production, possession and sale of the substances became illegal and subject to criminal sanction.

More than 4.5 tonnes of drugs worth tens of millions of euro were removed from head shops in a garda operation following the ban.

The substances controlled included:

* Synthetic cannabinoids

* BZP derivatives

* Mephedrone and other cathinones

* GBL and 1,4BD

However, the substances are still available online and a lucrative illegal market in head shop drugs has emerged.

In a major mephedrone seizure last July in Dublin, involving 1.5kg of the drug, gardaí arrested two young men who were not known to them as drug suppliers.

Gardaí suspected the two may have had contacts in the head shop trade and decided to enter the illegal market.