Published: Wednesday, 10th March, 2010 5:00pm
Rise of head shops demands comprehensive response
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When the first head shops opened in this country around a decade ago, they typically sold pipes, rolling papers and other paraphernalia associated with the cultivation and use of cannabis. A legal loophole in 2002, however, was exploited by head shop owners which allowed for the sale of magic mushrooms and other psychoactive truffles. By the time this loophole was closed two years later, it was reckoned that some four per cent of the Irish population had tried magic mushrooms, more than the numbers using either ecstasy or cocaine.
Exploiting chinks in the law is the essence of what head shops do and, as they point out themselves, what they are doing is not illegal. However, their presence has been causing a great deal of controversy all around the country in recent weeks and months as more and more premises have been established in towns around Ireland, including a number in Meath. Public pressure has already forced one out of Oldcastle and another out of business in Dunshaughlin, but at least three remain in business in Navan and one in Kells.
The so-called 'legal highs' that these shops sell closely mimic the effects of illegal drugs like ecstasy and cocaine, with many who have tried the substances claiming there is little difference between the experience of 'legal highs' and illicit substances. Concerned parents of young people are among those most aghast at the proliferation of head shops, fearing easier access to synthetic party pills like BZP. A storm of protest has thus been unleashed, with protest marches on the streets calling for the shops to be closed.
The past few months have also seen a steady rise in the number of seriously disturbed young adults and teenagers being hospitalised after ingesting some of the substances sold in head shops. Ill-effects include panic attacks, delirium, psychosis and paranoia, as well as physical symptoms like chest pain. Doctors are particularly concerned that, because no-one has any idea what is really contained in any of these powders and pills that are sold in head shops, that there is often great difficulty in diagnosing and treating these patients.
The other big concern is that the promotion and sale of these 'legal highs' will only add to the population's appetite for drugs of all kinds and can, in fact, soften up a whole new generation of drug-users who may go on to abuse harder, illegal drugs. We already have a serious drugs problem in this country, not to mention a propensity to abuse alcohol on a scale that makes us the second biggest boozers in the world. Adding head shops into the already "boiling broth of drug and alcohol consumption" will do nothing only add a new layer of illness, public health and social problems, according to Dr Chris Luke, consultant in emergency medicine at Cork University Hospital, and an outspoken critic of the head shop phenomenon.
The Government is now moving to ban head shops from selling legal alternatives to ecstasy and cocaine through new legislation from June. This new crackdown may also result in changes to the planning laws, forcing anyone wanting to open a head shop to apply for planning permission for change of use, in the same way as off-licences must do. That would be a positive development and would allow members of the public to object to the local authority and have their concerns taken on board by planners.
Curtailing the activities of head shops should also mean applying the rigours of existing laws in areas like health and safety, trade description and commercial regulation. However, this may not be enough. Even if every head shop in Ireland were to close tomorrow, the reality is that the 'legal highs' that they sell can still be obtained easily over the internet. Clearly, much more needs to be done in terms of regulating the sale of these legal drug alternatives, and a more comprehensive and urgent response may well be needed to halt the rise of the head shop phenomenon in Ireland.
