Looks like the end for Head Shops.
Get caught with Head Shop products, spend up to 7 years in jail.
Get caught supplying Head Shop products, in your Head Shop, face up to life in jail.
In the meantime, continue to smoke and drink as you wish. Heart disease, cancers, cirrhosis, violence (domestic and otherwise), motor function impairment and various other side effects all perfectly acceptable due to revenue dependence.
The last time Mary Harney moved this fast was when she thought McArthur Park was a public information broadcast and went to go save the cake that had been left out in the rain.
A victory for Joe Duffy, the fuckwits who listen to him and, most importantly, the good, old fashioned, and much more dangerous drug dealer.
Nice work
I think the way they’re pushing it through is to put the onus on the shopkeeper to prove their product is not illegal.
Lazy and dangerous legislation
Ah well back to the real drugs for everyone
You can’t make a law and then get the accused to prove they haven’t broken it. That’s absurd.
Ireland is broken.
Nice biased reporting there, 20. Love how there’s loads of context in your post.
It’s a small subset of what they sell that’s being outlawed here. A subset that I, and most people, agree should be illegal – drugs that mimic cocaine and other hard conventional drugs. Other countries are banning many of them at the moment too.
As for Harney moving fast, this has been talked about for months at this stage.
The first crazy on Joe Duffy today was so excited, she said, without the slightest hint of irony – “if I was a drinker, I’d bring everyone to the pub to celebrate”. Hilarious.
I turned off after that, been listening to Bob Dylan ever since, much better for the sanity.
Is there some reason I shouldn’t be biased, JD? What context would you like, exactly?
As for substances being banned, I don’t really have any great issue with that, beyond the fact this was an opportunity to grow up and face the reality that people who want drugs will get drugs – if it’s from a head shop or a drug dealer.
And nobody gave a fuck until that cunt Joe Duffy and his stupid radio show started going on about it.
Its Mephadrone,BZP and the main componant of spice thats being banned as JD said.
The guy in my local headshop sells stuff that contains none of the bannned substances and gives fuck all come down..Roll on the summer!!
I doubt any of the products sold there gives fuck all of a come down, you’ll be ill fill.
Personally im going straight back to the drug dealers, and im sure everyone else will do the same.
See, Harney’s only interested in preventing your come down.
well,Fuck all,in a relative sense.. The BZP stuff was horrific to be honest,and 3 days of hell afterwards.. never went near the mephadrone stuff,but heard enough from friends not to..
The idea of Harney rushing to save the cake “someone” left out in the rain. Genius!
I doff my cap in your direction sir.
Most people have bad comedowns from booze. They just don’t stay off it long enough to know the difference. A couple of years ago I was drinking very little for a few months and I noticed a big difference in energy and mood. And I don’t even drink much normally.
A noticeable worsening of both, I take it?
God, we are a bunch of wankers.
David Blunkett just said – “The Lib Dems are behaving like harlots”
That’s a bit rich coming from somebody who was shagging a slut.
Head-shops? Fianna Fail pandering to the lowest common denominator as usual. HM is right; Ireland is bust.
never bothered with the headshops myself the only drug im interested in grows out of the ground. which is noting like the legal shit they were selling and because i have a person i trust selling me what i want, then thats the way i will continue
wonder how many of the middle aged fuckwits complaining to joe duffy about drug abuse are stoned off their tits on prozac because they’re “depressed”?
i am going to head for some stout
i’d love to slip some bzp into cowens hang sandwiches…can just imagine hime gumming the big blubbery face off himself..
Sad, sad, sad little country.
Big, fat, useless cunt Harney.
Puts the drug supply back into the hands of the heavies, the gangsters, the mobs, the knackers and the pharmaceutical companies. Nice work from the Minister For Cakes And Pies. Cunt.
It is a joke though..
All the big drug importers wil be having parties tonight over this..
i don’t live in ireland and I’ve kind of missed the whole headshop thing (heard them mentioned at christmas and didn’t know what the fuck they were) but my question is: did they really take that much business off the drug dealers?
You’d have to wonder if the drug barons are connected to some of the judiciary and the politicians. It’s not a preposterous idea. It happens all the time in other countries. That much money corrupts people. And this is Ireland.
After all, organised crime can only ever exist with the cooperation of police, politicians and judges.
all the problems stemmed from people with kids who had latent psychological problems which manifested after they get their hands on the shit in the head shops…
Nothing worse than finding out summit about our kids that we dont want to know…
At the risk of sounding glib, HM, I’m not sure there’s a lot to “wonder” about. Money will grease the right palms at the right time.
As you so wisely pointed out – this is ireland, after all.
Since when is it ok to allow a tiny number of cranks to decide what’s lawful in this country???
I don’t remember anyone electing Joe Duffy to represent public opinion, the only ones ringing him about this were cranks and people who don’t/won’t control their own children!
Joe Duffy gets more like a mad oul one every day.
Censorship, alive and well and living in Ireland!
166 members of Dáil Eireann are the ones who decide.
Most of them are conservative, mass going, not very well read, not that smart, not open-minded and not well travelled.
We’re a meat and three veg society.
This is pure pandering to the conservative culshies and their like. No such thing as adults being allowed to make choices for themselves,instead a knee jerk reaction takes the place of sensible controls.
I totally agree about how no one ever goes on Joe Duffy’s show calling for the hundreds of pubs that serve underage drinkers to be closed down!
Half the TDs are from publican families, and the other half own them.
Talk about double standards, more like treble standards!
Won’t somebody please think of the children!
Isn’t that what they have parents for, Eoghan?
Somebody please think of the children!!
You don’t become successful on merit and ability in Ireland. You do it on the back of others through cheating and lying.
*runs out in front of train to end it all*
*train stops in time*
*looks a bit stupid and sneaks off whistling*
I’m in the livingroom, listening to my half-wit family having dinner while share their dumb, ignorant views on the head shop legislation. Ireland will always be a country of utter cuntwits. I really, really, really, really, really hate this place.
Apparently life in prison for selling the newly banned substances is “good enough for um. Pass the spudz and rosary beads, Bridy”.
A head shop opened in a street just beside my estate. Since then we’ve been invaded by groups teenagers looking to score.
Cunt family offers me vanilla cheesecake. Feeling less bitter.
David Blunkett just said – “The Lib Dems are behaving like harlots”
That’s a bit rich coming from somebody who was shagging a slut.
Not really – just means he’s shagging some lib dems.
The Head shops in NI will be delighted if they get cross border trade.
Cunt family offers me vanilla cheesecake. Feeling less bitter.
Would sleep with anybody for strawberry cheesecake
Haven’t time to post. Too busy rooting through the bins at the headshops.
Score!
its all very clear and if you dont know it your pretty retarded.
headshops ar a lesson to the government people want cannabis legalized and if not they dont have any intention whatsoever to stop smokin dope or poppin there shit.
they wont legalize it because it would put alcohol and tobacco companys to shit and the irish government cant have that,if cannabis was legalized then it would be as cheap to buy as parsley and because of the fact its not addictive where would the money drawn from alcoholics and smokers be coming in.addiction is brainwashing people into doing something they dont wanna do and the hungry freaks of our government who get paid millions every year only love it,however if cannabis where addictive it would have never been illegal.
as for headshops im not bothered by the fact the government is clamping down on these shops.
however i would truelly appreciate a more LOGICAL truth told about the substances and education on the effects rather than oh they’ll kill yeah!the thing that bothers me most though is the governments unjust law of deciding for people on wether or not they can use substances that ar psychoactive.granted people ar dangerous to others when there “high” but cant the same be said about alcohol? isnt it not a big massive contradiction?
another reason is religion and the fact politicians in america and england have lied about the effects of cannabis for years and years.its just ignorance out and out!
Murty – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_shop
whipped cream chagers i want one
Surely it is unconstitutional to summarily remove someone’s livelihood with legislation without warning. Yesterday the products that the headshops were selling were perfectly legal, like bananas, lettuce and pineapples. Yet today, suddenly, the headshops find themselves in breach of the law.
It’s like suddenly making vegetables illegal. If any of the headshop owners have the stomach for a fight I reckon the legislation will be successfully challenged or, at the very least, compensation will be won.
sky news saying protesters storm Irish parliament tonight RTE saying nothing
Mostly because the parliament was not stormed.
yeah just seen it on Independent website SKY made mountain out of molehill I will go away now twenty Cheers
heh
Sky News are such cunts. They’ve clearly gone Fox. Where is the UK’s John Stewart, he’s needed.
he certainly is
all the problems stemmed from people with kids who had latent psychological problems which manifested after they get their hands on the shit in the head shops…
Yeah, i know of a couple of teenagers who have gone seriously nuts after taking some stuff from headshops. Now i mean seriously stark raving fucking bonkers. Would this have happened eventually anyway? I don’t know.
It’s not the trendy thing to say on here but I think they are doing the right thing in closing these shops. I think certain drugs should be legalized but there should be very strict controls on the ingredients and who they’re sold to.
Limmy, is that you Limmy? HEY LIMMY, YA CARLOW FUCKING CUNT IS THAT YOU?
My position is clear; I defend the right of any adult to take into their system whatever the fuck they like, so long as they can afford it.
So let me get this straight….They stuff they did not ban is still ok to sell?
So if I go into a headshop and bought something that was no banned….And the guards stopped me. Found it…..Will I or will I not get 7 years in Jail?
I can’t see any problem with them shutting down the headshops.
But I can see big trouble with this catch-all ban on substances (such as bath-salts !?) because of their funny side-effects.
I’m all for the ban on selling them to kids.
But I hope people realised that an awful lot of silly old women (hippies from the 1960s, etc) are similarly doing their heads in on the same rubbish.
These old women don’t buy it from head-shops but they have their own distribution network, and also they can buy these things under-the-counter in very ordinary little shops. (I know this from a young relative working for the NHS in England).
But are the Gardai now to be involved on occasions when such daft old women have quarrels between themselves and start informing on each other?
I was on that protest earlier and there was a minor and short lived gate-shaking episode which resulted in First-Aid kits being called for from Buswells hotel.
Fucking 32 County Sovereignty Movement were marching with their banner. I wish those cunts would stop hi-jacking every protest. They’re only scaring off people who otherwise take part.
We need more people in suits on the protests.
That fucker Rupert Murdoch is the most dangerous cunt of all
“..First-Aid kits being called for from Buswells hotel”
buswells first aid: apply pint to mouth. repeat as required until symptoms are relieved. warning: may contain alcohol. for internal use only.
after reading the wikipedia explanation of headshops it seems they’re very prone to going up in flames. theres a lot of angry punters out there it seems.
it’s also amazing how in Ireland someone like joe “woman from clontarf” duffy can influence legislation – surely thats democracy though – power to the woman from clontarf!
HM- hijacking of protests by republician groups has been going on as long as I can remember. remember going down to one off the first rossport rallies at parnell sq bout 5-6 years ago, was like a sinn fein rally, 3-4 SF banners and about 75% of the crowd was SF.
See the pic in the times, theres more photographer than protesters/cops involved in the scuffles!
The Shinners need to back the fuck off. They don’t own anger.
What about all the middle grounders, the professional classes who are losing their jobs and in negative equity? They want to get out there too and storm the Dáil but not under the banner of extreme left.
Fight the power. three cheers for HM. Nice one.
@20: The context I was looking for is that it’s only the hard drugs they sold which are banned – and most people would agree, that hard drugs should not be available for legal sale. Jesus, even Amsterdam doesn’t sell that in their smart shops. Agreed about Joe Duffy, though. He’s a through and through cunt, it’s all about the ratings. As for Sky News, they’ve been far-right since the Afghan and Iraq wars. Unwatchable.
@Crank: Head shops might challenge it in court? Head shop owners are low-to-average income, radical, pot-smokers, and have no political connections. Do you think they’d win a court case? Look at pubs for comparison. Publicans are rich, ordinary, sane, and well-connected. Result: Publicans get everything they want, head shop owners get victimised.
As for the soft stuff they sell, I’ve actually bought some on a few occasions, including a few weeks ago. The owner was a stoner radical. My position on drugs is that you should be able to take whatever you like, so long as other people aren’t affected. This is why hard drugs, illegal or otherwise, are wrong – they strongly change people both physically and mentally. Imagine heroin was legal and someone took it, and fucked up their life – should we have stopped them? Yes! Why, well because it was in our and their interest to be stopped.
The owner, though, argued with me and said that all drugs, hard and soft, should be legal. This is bullshit.
Actully, JD, I think you’re completely correct. I too believe that the only reason the Government went after the headshops is because they believe they owners will never get it together to challenge them in court. And the lack of legal connections etc.
But I still think the government actions are illegal, undemocratic and unconstitutional and in a just society would not be allowed.
That said, I wouldn’t take anything from a headshop because I’m (a) not 17 anymore and (b) not totally mad.
No more hanging around outside now, waiting for some 16 year old to go in and buy drugs for me :(
What am I going to feed my cats now?
Heroin.
i think its a FUCKING DISGRACE about the product bans. it should b all about personal choice, if there are ppl who abuse the legal highs and are sick or worse as a result then its THEIR own fault!! well done fat Harney youve just put every scumbag dealer in the land back in business u STUPID woman!! those head shops brought in a killing in tax 4 this government and left the dirty drug dealers with just their dole to survive on. this weekend every scumbag dealer in this country had a toast to mary harney and her fat face, so well done mary!! oh and btw, yea they say theres this n that chemicals in these legal highs, yea and? theres diff chemicals in each drug, how is 1 chemical any better than the other??? see mary doesnt know r give a flying fuck how many peoples lives she just fucked up. ppl are outta jobs, drug dealers r bk in business and the country is not making any profit. FUCK YOU mary harney u BACKWARDS BITCH, put the real drug dealers outta business not the ones who go thru the books!
@murty – as a regular clubber, it was obvious to me that most people taking ‘drugs’ to go clubbing recently were taking head shop substances (or possibly ketamine) and not ecstasy, so it would appear that the shop were taking a lot of business away from the dealers. It’s a chicken and egg scenario though since, in the last few years, it’s been nigh on impossible to get pills with any actual MDMA in them, so the question is, if the (illegal) pills had still been of decent quality would the punters have bothered going to the head shops for inferior substitutes?
So, with this in mind, if there are any dealers reading, could you start flooding this kip with proper pills again please. The chances are that the street pills will just be head shop inferior shit. I’d feel safer taking good old yokes than newer chemicals. See this unusually balanced ABC documentary on the subject
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1564288654365150131#
I can’t comment on cocaine / substitutes as that’s not my bag baby.