Taoiseach's views on cannabis are nonexistent 

Instead of taking a bold stand, Mr Varadkar seems happy to keep his head under the changing sands of time

The Taoiseach’s suggestion that the matter go before a citizens’ assembly forum on drugs policy in the coming year is welcome, but it is only further kicking a controversial can down the road. Picture: Brian Lawless

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s statement that he has ‘no view’ on the legalisation of cannabis in this country rings somewhat hollow, given that the issue has been front and centre of debate across Europe, the US, Canada, and very many other countries for the last decade.

That cannabis for personal use has been legalised in Canada and in 21 of 50 states in the US, as well as in countries such as Mexico, Uruguay, Thailand, South Africa, Georgia, and Malta, and is being planned in Germany, indicates that, while the subject has not been at the top of the worldwide political agenda, it is gaining traction on a broad front.

This is unlikely to have passed by a savvy political operator such as the Taoiseach. The growing clamour for cannabis legalisation — or at least, decriminalisation — will not have gone unnoticed by politicians anywhere — desperate as most of them are for traction among younger voters.

Although some politicians here have not been dragging their heels on the legalisation of cannabis — Labour’s Ged Nash has been a consistent speaker on the matter, while People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny has a bill before the Dáil which, if passed, would decriminalise the possession of up to 7g of cannabis for personal use — it seems strange that the Taoiseach himself would have formed no opinion.

Instead of taking a bold stand and creating a managed market for the drug, putting it in hands of officialdom where it could be managed, licenced, tested for safety, and taxed, Mr Varadkar seems happy to keep his head under the changing sands of time.

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Certainly the Taoiseach’s suggestion that the matter go before a citizens’ assembly forum on drugs policy in the coming year is welcome, but it is only further kicking a controversial can down the road when innovative — and from a Government point of view, lucrative — solutions are so obviously at hand.