The Minister of State for Drugs, John Curran, said today he does not believe goods available in headshops should be legal in this State.
Mr Curran said he was concerned at the health risks of stimulants known as party pills and that Ireland might become a dumping ground for the drugs after a number of them were outlawed in Britain.
It is believed dozens of headshops have opened in towns around the country in the last few months - some open until 4am at weekends - and offering delivery service.
“The products that are being sold in headshops - I simply don’t want them sold in this country,” the Minister said.
Mr Curran told the Regional Drugs Task Forces conference on legal highs that the Minister for Health Mary Harney has been asked to move on banning party pills under the Misuse of Drugs Act.
Last March Mrs Harney banned the stimulant BZP - designed as a cattle dewormer in the 1940s but recently sold as an alternative to ecstasy – after a series of complaints.
Mr Curran backed calls for bans on other legal highs such as Smoke XXX - promoted as “so close to the real thing” but “not for human consumption”.
“My view, and maybe people don‘t agree with me, but my view is that they pose an unnecessary risk,” he said.
“I think if you listen to health professionals talk of the evidence of people presenting in A&E, I simply don‘t want them sold.
“In that regard I‘d prefer to try to use legislation under the Misuse of Drugs and so forth to try to restrict them rather than to license them.”
PA