Over 100 drugs have been temporarily decriminalised by accident due to a legal loophole, including MDMA ('ecstasy'), Ketamine, Benzodiazepine, Methamphetamine, and many head shop 'legal highs'. The Dáil will pass emergency legislation tonight to re-ban these substances, which will be before the Seanad tomorrow.
Of course people who use illicit drugs will merely laugh and then shrug as drug prohibition doesn't actually stop people from consuming them.
It should also be noted that almost everyone who advocates for the legalisation of drugs proposes that their sale be regulated (like alcohol or tobacco for example), rather than the existing laws merely being repealed.
Also worth remarking is the speed with which the parliament can churn out legislation when TDs feel like it. Decades to write hollow abortion legislation for the X-case, but at the drop of a hat they can ensure that our freedom remains trampled on so that vicious criminal gangs can rake in billions. It took over 20 years for Irish governments to draft a very flawed gender recognition bill for trans people. No emergency legislation will be passed to stop the upcoming 50,000 home repossessions, no emergency legislation to stop these obscene water charges, no emergency legislation will cap skyrocketing rents which are contributing to an exploding homelessness rate. And certainly no emergency legislation will be passed to end the abject failure known as the war on drugs.
Why the loophole? It's due to the legislation being overly broad in its delegative scope. A head shop owner was arrested and challenged the legislation on this basis. The Oireachtas delegated to the minister to allow them to determine which drugs should be legal and which illegal. The High Court held that this gives too broad a scope to the minister to determine the content of the legislation which should be left to the Oireacthas to determine. This is based on the premise that the debate which occurs in the national parliament should be the determining factor in the legislation which binds citizens, rather than to delegated bodies which don't have this democratic oversight.
So whatever you do, don't walk up to a Garda and ask 'any yokes?' That would be very bold.
