TORONTO – Ireland’s government is rushing to pass emergency legislation to re-criminalize the possession of several drugs, including ecstasy, after they were inadvertently made legal due to a loophole in the law.
Recreational drugs like ketamine, magic mushrooms and ecstasy became legal Tuesday morning after the country’s Court of Appeal ruled part of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977, which allows certain substances to be controlled, was unconstitutional.
A statement from the Irish Department of Health said the possession of drugs listed under the act such as ecstasy, benzodiazepines and newer psychoactive substances immediately ceased to be an offence, but didn’t affect drugs like heroin.
READ MORE: Young Idaho girl’s story may lead to the approval of marijuana oil
“The outcome of this case does not affect existing laws regarding the supply, possession or sale of older drugs such as heroin, cocaine or cannabis,” the department said in a statement.
The Guardian reported the man at the centre of the court ruling is Stanislav Bederev, who was prosecuted in 2012 for the possession of methylethcathinone, a substance which produces effects similar to MDMA or ecstasy, and was placed under a controlled drugs list in 2010.
Bederev’s lawyers argued it was illegal to put the substance on the controlled drug list because it had been done without any consultation with the Irish parliament.
Irish Health Minister Leo Varadkar is set to introduce emergency legislation in a sitting at the Dáil, the lower house of the country’s parliament, but it will need to go before parliament’s upper chamber, the Seanad. This means it will still be 24 hours before the legislation can become law.
“We had no way of knowing what the Court would decide today, but we prepared for this possibility,” Minister Varadkar said in a statement. “The emergency legislation I am introducing today will re-instate the status quo ante and re-control all drugs that were controlled prior to this judgment. I want to thank the Opposition in advance for its co-operation.”
Comments