Mick Clifford: Pothead pooches in the park

A member of the public out for a walk with their dog in Johnstown Park. Picture: Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie

Drugs were on the political agenda this week with the publication of the final report of the Citizens' Assembly on the matter. Drugs were also on the agenda where I live in a little patch of the northside of Dublin. The Citizens' Assembly wants drug use to be considered primarily as a public health rather than a criminal justice issue. That result brought much relief in my neighbourhood among dog owners. For in the last week, something strange was going down around these parts as a lot of dogs simply went to pot.

The Citizens' Assembly appears to have caught the public mood with their proposals for a rethink of the drug laws. Some of this may well be attributable to the proliferation of use of illegal drugs, particularly cannabis. Maybe you have noticed it, particularly in big towns and cities around the state, but you can’t go too far these days without wafting in the sweet, piney smell of the stuff as if it had just floated in on a breeze. Whenever this occurs I have a quick gander around the place in an attempt to spot the offender. But there is rarely any guilty face among the people passing by. Potheads no longer look like potheads because a subculture has gone mainstream.