Cannabis and Ireland

The Republic of Ireland has been talking about legalizing cannabis for medical purposes. Irish members of government have been looking at the feasibility of Irish farmers growing cannabis for the country's medical use. Ireland is also supposedly in talks with Denmark to import cannabis from there.

With the loosening of cannabis laws worldwide and with Europe emerging as one of the biggest cannabis markets estimated at a billion plus Euros, legalizing cannabis for recreational use should be one of the steps that Ireland should take. It should look at exploring the agricultural, economic, industrial, medical and recreational aspects of the plant. The druids may have used cannabis as a part of their medicinal preparations in the past. 

 

Today, Ireland probably has a decent illegal cannabis market. But the legal synthetic drugs on offer especially opioids, benzodiazepines, synthetic cannabinoids and the equally dangerous illegal synthetic drugs like heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine are damaging many people's health and taking lives like never before. UNODC's World Drug Report 2020 states that methamphetamine from the US now makes its way to Ireland.

 

More and more Irish politicians appear to be in favor of various cannabis measures including decriminalization, legalization for medical purposes and legalization for recreational purposes. It is now futile to waste time taking the long route of decriminalization first, followed by medical legalization and then recreational legalization. That route was to be followed when societies were unsure of the impact of cannabis legalization. Now enough places have taken the long route to provide ample evidence that legalizing directly for recreational use provides the most benefits to the most people in the shortest time. Fifteen states in the US have legalized cannabis for recreational use besides Uruguay and Canada. The legalization of cannabis appears imminent in Mexico, South Africa, Israel, New Zealand and the federal US.

 

Adding cannabis to the recreational mix will increase the safe alternatives available to people. Farmers will surely benefit if they have an additional agricultural crop to grow. Importing cannabis will prove way too expensive especially if it is coming from Europe. 

In December 2020,  the UN voted to remove cannabis from its most restricted Schedule IV category of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. It does however still remain in Schedule I, which is the least restrictive. This one move by the UN itself should be sufficient to bring about the recreational legalization of cannabis in every nation and an overhaul of national drug laws. 

 

It must be noted that in most places where cannabis legalization has happened it took the efforts of the people who mobilized themselves through grassroots level movements to bring about this change. Left to lawmakers legalization would have been impossible, as the main interests of lawmakers concern the protection of the big industries opposed to cannabis such as pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, medical, alcohol and tobacco. For something that truly benefits the people, the people themselves have had to make the change.  

Ireland needs to internally and internationally support the legalization of cannabis for adult recreational purposes. Cannabis and Guinness, now that would be a combination worth trying out.

Listed below are articles taken from various media related to the above subject. Words in italics are the thoughts of your truly at the time of reading the article.    

'Mr Smyth said there was an agreement to expand the use of cannabis for palliative care and to have a citizens’ assembly on drugs. He said that drugs prohibition was a “stupid policy” and is “counterproductive” and that he agreed to an assembly on the basis that it helped shift public opinion on other issues in recent years.

“I’m looking at citizens’ assemblies that have happened for same-sex marriage, and for abortion and I’ve seen that they managed to get public opinion around a rational proposition and I’m hoping the same will happen with the Citizens’ Assembly on drugs,” he said.
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/proposal-to-legalise-drugs-blocked-by-fianna-fail-and-fine-gael-in-government-talks-with-green-party-39296504.html


'The United States, for example, has been reported by other countries as a country of departure of methamphetamine for Oceania (Australia and New Zealand), Asia (Japan, the Philippines, Hong Kong, China and Mongolia) and Europe (Ireland). Moreover, methamphetamine trafficking has been reported not only from Mexico or from Canada into the United States but also from the United States to those two countries, suggesting a number of two-way trafficking flows across the countries of North America. Methamphetamine trafficked from Canada has been reported in the United States, South America (Chile), Oceania (Australia and New Zealand) and a few countries in Europe (Iceland and Latvia).' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_Booklet_3.pdf


'Asked about the Hot Press article a spokeswoman for the Department of Health told the Irish Sunday Mirror yesterday: “Minister Donnelly stands by his interview.”

Three years ago he said: “I’d like to find a way to decriminalise small quantities of weed. “If a grown adult wants to grow a herb and then smoke it, and there are no negative consequences for other people, then they should be allowed to do that.'
https://www.dublinlive.ie/news/dublin-news/health-minister-stephen-donnelly-stands-18543989

'Health Minister Simon Harris says he would like to see Irish farmers growing cannabis crops as the legislation of medicinal marijuana draws closer.

The Emerald Isle may be famous around the world for its green grass but horticulturalists could soon be harvesting cannabis plants instead.

Minister Harris revealed he hopes to pass legislation clearing the drug for medicinal use in 2019.

And he told Ear to the Ground that he would like to see a homegrown crop of medical marijuana in the future.'
https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/politics/health-minister-simon-harris-would-13706663


'“There is quite a lead-in time and there are patients who need this product as soon as possible. What we’re likely to do in the first course of action is to try and secure a product.

“Then in the medium terms talking about growing our own and securing our own supply in Ireland is the sensible thing to do,” he said. '
https://www.thejournal.ie/ifa-cannabis-farm-simon-harris-4411551-Dec2018/


'“Policy to date has not permitted the cultivation of cannabis for medical use and no licences have been issued for this activity.

“However recent developments on access to cannabis for medical use may prompt a review of this position in the future,” said the department.'
https://www.thejournal.ie/irish-farmers-cannabis-4454112-Jan2019/


Please just legalize adult recreational use in Ireland and Denmark to remove all this red tape and give people access to the plant. All these ridiculous barriers are only preventing the people who need the plant the most from accessing it. Just let people grow it at home.

'It’s over two years since the minister announced that a medicinal cannabis access programme was to be established, but since then no scheme has been rolled out.

The delay has been blamed on the government running into problems finding a quality assured supplier of cannabis and a supplier that can export its products to Ireland.

It is understood that the medicinal cannabis product for Irish import has been sourced in Denmark. Last year, a team of officials travelled to the country to assess the operations of access schemes abroad.'
https://www.thejournal.ie/medicinal-cannabis-ireland-2-4566916-Mar2019/


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