law regarding posession of ketamine

tariqbutt

I am trying to find out the position of the drug ketamine in irish law. I saw a post on a forum (in reference to another country) which stated:

...not scheduled, but controlled as a prescription medicine (unlicensed distribution illegal).

I think the same is true for Ireland but its nearly impossible to find any substantial proof on the net.

I know it is class C in the UK but I cant find any proof of similar classification in Ireland.
Does anyone know how it is classified in Ireland?

Here's the Misuse of Drugs act
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1977/en/act/pub/0012/index.html#zza12y1977
and here's a list of scheduled substances
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1977/en/act/pub/0012/gen_1.html#gen_1

However Ketamine is not listed. Thus I would assume from the information given that ketamine does not count as a "controlled drug" as per whatever definition is being used there. Thus it must come under some other law, possible related to prescription drugs, no?

Thus assuming it is simply controlled as a prescription medicine, what would this mean in terms of someone being in possession of it in Ireland? What are the penalties for possession of prescription medicines?

Is there a good place to look for this type of information? ( I seem to be able to find loads of stuff about uk law whenever I search, but nothing about irish law)

hullaballoo

Google: "Ketamine site:irishstatutebook.ie" and you'll see the results for yourself.

It's a controlled drug as far as I can see within the meaning of the 1977 Act, despite not being listed in its schedule. It's enough that post-enactment regulations regarding the controlling of drugs be brought into force and in such regulations, the interpretation of the meaning of the term 'controlled drugs' is given as the same as under s. 2 MDA 1977. Further, s. 2(2) MDA 1977 allows for controlled drugs to be specified in this way (i.e. by way of regulations).

tariqbutt

Thank you for the information!

I am a bit confused though. I am unclear what the "Part in Schedule" refers to. I assume it is not its classification as a drug (class A, like cocaine etc).

Also what does this mean overall? Does ketamine have a drug classification (like class A,B,C) and if not how do the punishments for its possession compare to drugs which do have classifications (like cannabis say).

Sorry if this question is missing something obvious, but I am not a lawyer and as such am having trouble figuring out this stuff.

Jev/N

AFAIK there are no classifications in Ireland like in the UK. It's more a matter of discretion on the part of the judge to a certain degree that the legislation will allow

shanemc

Ketamine is now listed as a controlled drug thanks to the Misuse of Drugs (declaration Order) 2010