Drug laws in Ireland - Which drugs are illegal?

FishFacePhil

I remember they brought in the psychoactives bill years ago but I don't really understand what it means. How do you know which drugs are legal and which are not in Ireland? Is there a definitive list of banned substances and classes of substances which one can refer to, and if they don't see the particular drug in that list, one can safely assume its not prohibited? For example if I wanna order some kanna or corydalis or other mild relaxant/sedative, how can I find out if they are prohibited in Ireland or not? In the US and UK its very simple. Theres a list of substances and classes (based on the molecular structure of the drug) of substances that are banned. Those two substances I mentioned are legal in US, UK and most other countries but with this psychoactives bill, I don't know where they would stand in Ireland.

Peregrinus

As in the UK, there are lists of controlled drugs for the purposes of the Misuse of Drugs Acts.

There is, however, no fixed list of psychoactive substances for the purposes of the Criminal Justice (Psychoactive Substances) Act; there's just a definition of "psychoactive substance". Anything which comes within that definition is a psychoactive substance, and is subject to the restrictions in the Act.

This does make it more difficult to know whether a particular substance is or is not a psychoactive substance. There's no definitive list you can consult; you have to know enough about the substance to be able to work out for yourself whether it comes within the definition. In a borderline case you might need to consult a pharmacologist in order to form a view.

However, for the typical user, this isn't a problem, since the Act does not control purchase, possession or use of psychoactive substances. It only controls sale, importation, advertising etc. The policy, presumably, is that it's reasonable to expect people selling, etc the stuff to know enough about what it is and how it works to be able to work out whether it comes within the definition or not, and to hold them accountable if they deal in the stuff without having bothered to find out.

The other point to note is that, while importation of a psychoactive substance for personal consumption is an offence, the Act does provide a framework of prohibition notices and prohibition orders, which I suspect would be used in preference to prosecution against an individual user for a first offence, especially in circumstances where he might reasonably have been uncertain about whether the substance he was importing was a psychoactive substance.

the world wonders

Peregrinus wrote: »

There is, however, no fixed list of psychoactive substances for the purposes of the Criminal Justice (Psychoactive Substances) Act; there's just a definition of "psychoactive substance". Anything which comes within that definition is a psychoactive substance, and is subject to the restrictions in the Act.

Criminal Justice (Psychoactive Substances) Act wrote:

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2010/en/act/pub/0022/sec0001.html#sec1

“psychoactive substance” means a substance, product, preparation, plant, fungus or natural organism which has, when consumed by a person, the capacity to—

(a) produce stimulation or depression of the central nervous system of the person, resulting in hallucinations or a significant disturbance in, or significant change to, motor function, thinking, behaviour, perception, awareness or mood, or


(b) cause a state of dependence, including physical or psychological addiction;

Doesn't this ban caffeine?

BillyBoy13

the world wonders wrote: »

Doesn't this ban caffeine?

Id say this is the important bit.

(a) produce stimulation or depression of the central nervous system of the person, resulting in hallucinations or a significant disturbance in, or significant change to, motor function, thinking, behaviour, perception, awareness or mood, or

Obviously some people will take a bad reaction to caffeine, but they would be in the minority. The average person will be able to drink a cup of coffee and still be fine.

Whereas if the person had a plate of cannabis cookies with that cup of coffee, more than likely, the average person will be significantly affected by said cookies.

That would be my interpretation of that law.

the world wonders

BillyBoy13 wrote: »

Id say this is the important bit.



Obviously some people will take a bad reaction to caffeine, but they would be in the minority. The average person will be able to drink a cup of coffee and still be fine.

Whereas if the person had a plate of cannabis cookies with that cup of coffee, more than likely, the average person will be significantly affected by said cookies.

That would be my interpretation of that law.

Caffeine consumption has the capacity to produce some dramatic and highly unpleasant symptoms, including specifically hallucinations. Sure, you'd need to drink a lot of espressos to produce these symptoms, but the legislation does not define what a "normal" or "reasonable" consumption is, just that the substance has the "capacity" to do this. Also note the "or" at the end of the clause.

Edit: apparently it bans curry and chili as well:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsaicin

It is common for people to experience pleasurable and even euphoriant effects from ingesting capsaicin. Folklore among self-described "chiliheads" attributes this to pain-stimulated release of endorphins, a different mechanism from the local receptor overload that makes capsaicin effective as a topical analgesic. In support of this theory, there is some evidence that the effect can be blocked by naloxone and other compounds that compete for receptor sites with endorphins and opiates.[24]

mathepac

the world wonders wrote: »

Doesn't this ban caffeine?

No

BillyBoy13

the world wonders wrote: »

Caffeine consumption has the capacity to produce some dramatic and highly unpleasant symptoms, including specifically hallucinations. Sure, you'd need to drink a lot of espressos to produce these symptoms, but the legislation does not define what a "normal" or "reasonable" consumption is, just that the substance has the "capacity" to do this. Also note the "or" at the end of the clause.

You had to get a news story from the UK where a girl drank too much coffee. Im sure if I looked hard enough I could find a story where somebody died from over drinking water.

The point is, the average person can drink a cup of coffee and get into their car and be fine.

If you want to get finickity about it, we could ban peanuts because some people have a bad reaction to them.

The cup of coffee is fine for the majority of people. Whereas the cannabis will affect the majority of people.

Anylook Im not a legal guy in the least. Im only offering my own interpretation of that quote you provided.

Peregrinus

It doesn't apply to coffee. Coffee is "food" within the meaning of the Food Safety Authority Act, and by s. 2 the Psychoactive Substances Act does not apply to a number of excepted substances, one of which is food within the meaning of the FSA Act.

K.Flyer

(a) produce stimulation or depression of the central nervous system of the person, resulting in hallucinations or a significant disturbance in, or significant change to, motor function, thinking, behaviour, perception, awareness or mood,

Sounds like the effect that Alcohol can have on a person, yet its legal!

Peregrinus

K.Flyer wrote: »

Sounds like the effect that Alcohol can have on a person, yet its legal!

There's an exception in the Act for alcohol. (Not that you're free to import it and sell it without restriction, but there's already a system in place to regulation the distribution of alcohol, so they're not going to double up by imposing the Psychoactive Substances Act as well.

drunkmonkey

Peregrinus wrote: »

It doesn't apply to coffee. Coffee is "food" within the meaning of the Food Safety Authority Act, and by s. 2 the Psychoactive Substances Act does not apply to a number of excepted substances, one of which is food within the meaning of the FSA Act.

Mushrooms are food and there banned. Even though like coffe you need to take a spar bag full of some of them to get a kick.