Head shops in Ireland are in the news yet again after the Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern, announced proposed legislation aimed at store owners selling psychoactive substances that should see them closed down for good.
The sanction contained in the Criminal Justice Bill 2010 will send sellers to prison for up to five years if it is passed by the Dáil and Seanad. It is hoped this will happen before the government’s summer recess.
Head shops across the nation have come under scrutiny as they continue to sell so-called legal highs, so JOE brings you behind the closed doors of head shops with five things you may not know…
1. A judge unwittingly rented a property to a head shop.
Quite amusing is the fact that a judge renowned for his strict anti-drug sentencing rented his premises to a head shop in Naas.
Judge John Coughlan had agreed to allow the premises to be used as a venue for an alternative medicine centre but was unaware of the real use for the venue. Judge Coughlan asked his auctioneer to have the building vacated after the discovery was made.
2. Two Irish head shops were the subjects of failed bomb attacks.
In March of this year two pipe bombs were planted outside two Athlone head shops.
The devices were found outside Eclipse and Myth & Magic stores causing Gardai to evacuate businesses and divert traffic away from the area. The Army Bomb Disposal Team was called in to make the devices safe at the scene.
3. In the boom time of head shops, one new store a week opened in Ireland.
In January of this year it was revealed by Gardaà that there was a dramatic increase in the opening of new head shops.
It was claimed that the rate of new shops opening to sell herbal and synthetic substances was at one a week.
4. Dublin is the home of Europe’s largest head shop chain.
Nirvana Head Shop belongs to the largest head shop chain in Europe, with its main store located on South William Street in Dublin.
Nirvana stores herald themselves as, “Purveyors of Fun Stuff since 1993â€. The Dublin store provides a 24-hour service through a hatch where you can purchase legal highs.
5. Majority of the head shops which have already been closed down in the state now run as sex shops.*
Out of the 48 head shops which have been shut down by the authorities, 46 of them now operate as sex shops.
Those who take comfort in buying a legal buzz are not taking to the streets in search of dealers, but instead are turning to hardcore pornographic material.
*Fact 5 is an invention
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