Irish drug law.

Michael_75

Hello all. I come to you hoping that I could have Ireland's current drug laws presented to me. I remember not so long ago a big hoo ha over legal highs and new laws being introduced but I am not sure of the wording of these laws exactly. Is there also any eu laws that I should research. I ask because I have recently came across a number of chemicals that are certainly legal in the uk and I imagine the Irish laws will not differ greatly from theirs. This is purely for the sake of research and I do not plan on consuming, selling etc. Please do not make any reference to recreational drugs in this post.

If there is an exhaustive list that would be fine but if the laws are based around molecular structure that is also fine.

Farcear

Misuse of Drugs Act (with amending acts) -- http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/isbc/1977.html#a12_1977

You will need a good understanding of chemistry to understand this though.

NoQuarter

Where are the regulations mentioned in s.5 of the 1977 Act found?

Farcear

Have to run a search for them:

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/ResultsSI.html?q=%22Misuse+of+Drugs+Act%22+%22section+5%22&search_type=si&button=Search

Michael_75

I have read through CRIMINAL JUSTICE (PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES) ACT 2010 and I am very surprised at the expressions they used. It mentions human consumption throughout and the products were always marked to not be consumed by humans. Have I missed something. Would it be an idea to ask in the garda station about declaring my importation but signing a document that states the compounds are not for consumption?

NoQuarter

Michael_75 wrote: »

I have read through CRIMINAL JUSTICE (PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES) ACT 2010 and I am very surprised at the expressions they used. It mentions human consumption throughout and the products were always marked to not be consumed by humans. Have I missed something. Would it be an idea to ask in the garda station about declaring my importation but signing a document that states the compounds are not for consumption?

If the substance you were importing was not for consumption and was on the controlled substance list, I would imagine you could be charged with importing or possession.

Farcear

Michael_75 wrote: »

It mentions human consumption throughout and the products were always marked to not be consumed by humans.

True, that's what their stated purpose may have been but, in reality, it was found "beyond all reasonable doubt" that the so-called 'head shops' were selling products for human consumption.


In law, just labelling your actions as something is never a defence. The court / judge / jury will always look behind the facade to see what is really going on.


If you are planning on importing a controlled substance for legitimate reasons, you should seek legal advice as there are criminal penalties for getting it wrong.

Michael_75

That's interesting. The compounds that interest me are novel and will certainly not be listed by name. I am very surprised by the scedule list I have discovered to see hydrochloric acid listed among the most blatant illegal drug precursors. I have never heard of anyone getting in trouble over HCl and rightly so it is used in so many aspects of chemistry. If I could ask one last thing it would be for the laws if they exist that cover analogues. It is my assumption that there are laws covering x molecule and any substitutions at y position et cetera. Thank you all for your time and I will remind you that this is only a start to my research and I will only act once I am entirely sure I am operating within the law.

valleyoftheunos

Michael_75 wrote: »

That's interesting. The compounds that interest me are novel and will certainly not be listed by name. I am very surprised by the scedule list I have discovered to see hydrochloric acid listed among the most blatant illegal drug precursors. I have never heard of anyone getting in trouble over HCl and rightly so it is used in so many aspects of chemistry. If I could ask one last thing it would be for the laws if they exist that cover analogues. It is my assumption that there are laws covering x molecule and any substitutions at y position et cetera. Thank you all for your time and I will remind you that this is only a start to my research and I will only act once I am entirely sure I am operating within the law.

You'll need to do a lot more than just label something in a certain way.

Because they have legitimate and illegitimate uses controlled substances are exactly that, not illegal not banned just controlled. If you want to import or even posses such controlled substances you will have to do so under licence. seek advice from the relevant authorities as to what is required to obtain such licenses my guess is that it will be both time consuming and rather expensive and establishing whether doing so is feasible now might save you a lot of wasted effort in the future.

jasonpat

But in the past times the Irish drug laws have some big misuse controversies and there are certain improvements in the law in years of 1977, 1984 and 2010.

Predalien

I have an okay working knowledge of pharmacology and the act seems to broadly cover possible analogous drugs. Has anyone been convicted of possession of such substances yet? I'd be interested in seeing someone try and argue the legislation doesn't cover a particular substance.

Predalien

To the OP, do you know which particular chemicals are legal in the UK which you believe might also be legal here? I can't see much room for manoevre in the most recent legislation but would be interested in figuring it out.

hunkymonkey

The problem with the misuse of drugs act 1977, and hence how the 'legal highs' were able to get around it was that drugs had to be named on the schedule of drug list. 
When legal highs came first,  it was BZP mainly, similar to a low strength ecstasy. Wasn't hugely popular. But then this loophole was taken full advantage of by bringing in the 'stronger & more potent' drugs similar to mephedrone (similar effect to cocaine/amphetamine). Easily accessed, less adulterants meant that it took over from cocaine as drug of choice. There was many different types. They came from research on chemicals that were used as anaesthetics or similar and for reason or other (mainly safety e.g. side effects) they weren't brought to market. 
So new legislation was brought in we're most of the drugs were named, approx 200 of them, so they were made illegal practically overnight. 
All this did was bring in an influx of drugs that weren't on the schedule. One of these was one called 'whack'. Contained 2 ingredients, but one of them caused psychological disturbances but the drugs half life was 5 days, so took a long time to leave the body. The HSE sent out information to the press about the severe complications about this drug, over 40 admissions to A&E in one weekend, mostly in midlands. 
Hence the psychoactive substances bill essentially gets around the problem of misuse of drugs act by putting the onus on the person to prove that substance doesn't have a psychoactive effect and not having to name it chemically. Don't think it's been challenged in court as of yet.