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THE HEALTH SERVICE Executive has issued a warning to drug users in Cork, urging caution over taking a brown powder substance known to contain MDMA and PMMA*.
The caution – directed at both drug users and health professionals – has been given after Gardaí confirmed that the ecstasy product may have been a factor in the recent tragic deaths of two young men in Kinsale.
The HSE advised that the misuse of drugs carries serious health risks particularly when other drugs, including alcohol, are taken in combination.
The bodies of Michael Coleman and Liam Coffey, both 22, were found in a house on Abbey Lane in Kinsale at about 6.30am on Sunday. Four people have since been arrested in connection with the deaths. Three have since been released without charged and files are being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The HSE South said it is alerting medical professionals in the region, as well as community and voluntary groups working with drug users. It is also liaising closely with the Gardaí on the matter.
David Lane from the agency’s Addiction Services said there are a number of practical steps that drug users can take to prevent an overdose, such as understanding when tolerance is lower, by not mixing drugs and avoiding unfamiliar supply sources.
He added that if someone gets into difficulties after consuming a substance, it is critically important to get help immediately. Symptoms associated with PMMA and MDMA include high fever, rapid heart rate and agitation.
*Methylamphetamine and Paramethoxymethamphetamine
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Legalize, control and tax
@bmul: The dealers won’t tax, will sell more potent product at cheaper prices thereby maintaining their customer bases and will continue to murder to preserve their territories.
@Tommy Roche: Legalisation means a shift to regulated and a controlled market. To do this, we would need a panel of economists to analyse the market and implement the necessary public policy in a way which shifted at least 70/80% to the regulated market over the period of X amount of years. That way, the benefits of legalisation will be realised.
As aforementioned, a Fine Gael government would most likely give the market over to US multinationals and spoil the legalised/regulated market. They would most likely also tax it at such a level where people would continue to use the black market.
That’s why we need an effective left wing government implementing policies for the net benefit and good of the Irish people. Not FF/FG.
@Tommy Roche: is that what happens in Holland ???
@bmul: That’s precisely what happens in Holland. The whole liberalisation of drugs farce is being shown for what it really is. A cash cow for murderous drug gangs. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50821542
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.irishtimes.com/news/new-wave-of-criminals-operating-in-holland-are-violent-1.278589%3fmode=amp
@Tommy Roche: maintaining their customer bases. You’re saying everyone who buys weed now will refrain from buying it legally in order to get a stronger strain.
@Tommy Roche: any reports handy of all of the benefits of the legalised system and the revenue? Or are you just here to talk complete bull and scaremonger
@Tommy Roche: hey Tommy, you’re incorrect. Look at Colorado. Look at Canada. Free the weed.
@Tommy Roche: the Irish Times article is from 21 years ago ?!!!
The other article only doesn’t display any direct causality re: narco state to cannabis legalisation
There are a myriad of other factors at play there which are mentioned.
Also, people want to know what they’re buying. You are incorrect in your assumption (or perhaps projection?) that everyone wants want “the strongest” stuff.
@Tommy Roche: its not legalised in Holland its decriminalised. So legal to sell and use but illegal to grow. A prime example of why it must be full legalisation.
@Tommy Roche: Yes and if your read your bbc article, the most wanted man arrested was a drug runner making a fortune from states like ours where he ships the dangerous cheap product, Im sure you want to poison children daily with this system and your 50s housewife mentality.
@Tommy Roche: it’s a bitta green ffs not golden heroin. Don’t be so silly.
@Tommy Roche: as BlindBoy said the only brand of cannabis that the dealers sell in Ireland is “do you want it or not?” Why would consumers who could browse different legal varieties that are significantly cheaper and quality controlled want to return to buying stuff that looks and smells like petrol from some bloke in an alley?
@Tommy Roche: do you know anyone that buys black market alcohol now that alcohol is legalised? It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense does it when you can you can buy it in a shop and know you won’t go blind from the product nor being distilled properly.
@Tommy Roche: yes the same happened with alcohol didn’t it? Lookmatball the illegal alcohol being sold by all those criminals. Obviously what your concerned about is fear not fact. We need to move on.
@Tommy Roche: Wrong. The vast majority of cannabis users are law abiding citizens and would not touch street dealers if they could source it legally. How many people in Amsterdam buy their weed on the streets?
@Tommy Roche: Your oversimplification of a very complex situation is what has lead you to the incorrect conclusion. Review the research and case studies come back and then come back and edit your comment.
@Tommy Roche: what does the Irish government have in common with the Kinihan cartel?
They both believe Cannabis should remain illegal
@paul johnson: ahhhh Tommy Roche, another one muted
@Tommy Roche: Most of those with more disposable income will go for the quality product that’s of a known quantity, a lot of users also generally don’t like interacting with dealers. Legalisation alone won’t address the underage market though, the funds raised from taxation could be used to police the gangs harder.
@Tommy Roche: spoken like a true pro
@Tommy Roche: Option 1: people will go into town, into a nicely presented shop, have a choice of what to buy, have a budtender explain the differences between the various strains and potency and recommend something based on what the customer wants.
Option 2: continue to meet your local dealer, down a lane way and buy ‘Weed’ (no idea of the strain, potency, if it has been sprayed with god knows what etc)
I know what option I would take and happily pay the extra for it
Fair play to the Journal for shining a spotlight on this issue time and time again over the past year. I think it’s really important for this issue to be brought up and discussed.
For me, when I realised that prohibition was not for the good of public health and that there are a lot of special interests keeping it illegal, that’s when I became in favour of legalisation. I think it’s just an awful situation when you have peoples’ lives ruined for personal possession of cannabis, today, in 2021. When you educate yourself and think about this it makes no sense to prohibit.
Legalisation means disputes are settled in courts and not on the streets. The Economic arguments says to legalise, public health argument says to legalise, health and safety argument says to legalise. It’s a no-brainer.
@Tomo: Had the correct terminology been used in the survey – “adult-use” rather than “recreational” the result would have no doubt been much higher.
@Tomo: well said. Let’s hope there’s not another 5 years of discussing and debating before they actually do something.
@Cork Cannabis Activist Network (Ireland): or if the other side of the equation had been properly laid out. The argument is not between regulated cannabis use and zero cannabis use. It’s between regulated cannabis use and cannabis use under prohibition. The costs and harms – economic, social, human etc – of prohibition need to be articulated too, and compared with the harms of regulated cannabis use. In other words, a better question to poll would be: should Ireland end cannabis prohibition?
40% Is not a bad number considering the amount of biased scare mongering we have seen in the MSM recently. If there was a proper public debate held where facts were presented and checked from all sides I believe that 40% would turn into a clear majority.
@Tom Ripley: yes, they are scaremongering. They’d clearly rather give you a prescription than let you be happy on your own. Cannabis is less harmful than tobacco, or alcohol. Stop being such a putz about it.
@Drunk in Dublin: Don’t mind tom. He’s just looking for attention. He tries to get it by being a contrarian.
@Tom Ripley: those “medical professionals” are too attached to the junkets and back-handers they get from pharmaceutical companies.
They are the foot soldiers big pharma: to keep pushing the prescription pills and keep the cash rolling in
@Tom Ripley: still playing off the suspended Twitter account….troll.
@Tom Ripley: You don’t need to be a professional psychiatrist to weigh up the pros and cons of legalisation (or at least decriminalisation).
Giving convictions to otherwise law abiding citizens is wrong. Letting dealers have control of the market is wrong. Having the potency of weed not regulated is wrong. Not allowing people have access to a legitimate form of pain relief is wrong. People thinking alcohol is benign compared to weed is wrong.
@Tom Ripley:
Medical professionals also tell us alcohol is bad yet in less than half an hr there’s 5 places within 15 mins walk of my house where I can load up legally.
Also this gateway theory is rubbish. “heroin addicts all started on cannabis”. I’ll bet they all ate sugar as a child as well does that make sugar a “gateway drug” as it’s addictive?
@Tom Ripley: Exactly!
Because as we all know professional psychiatrists in Ireland have never got it wrong…
Such as in the past when…
•Women that were diagnosed as being overly emotional i.e. saying anything their husbands didn’t like!
Got them banged up in a psychiatric ward for her nerves by a professional psychiatrist, for as long as it took to set her straight according to her husband.
•Anyone LGTB was diagnosed as suffering from a mental illness by a professional psychiatrist, medicated and vilified.
•And of course all the people with actual mental illnesses that were chained in wards, medicated into oblivion, given electro convulsive therapy and generally abused by professional psychiatrists.
In their own time, they were also deferred to as “professional psychiatrists”.
@UK Hurling Bloke: you lost the arguement when you went with “big pharma”.
@Drunk in Dublin: I guess you know more than people who study for years in that field and use science. Fair enough.
@ShaneO’Mac: oh for medical purposes, all for it. But after that it’s just creating people who will have mental health issues on years to come. I know the arguement to tax them to pay for their future needs. Cool and all but if they can get stronger from dealer for cheaper that’s what they will do.
@Tom Ripley: When they cherry pick the data to push a false narrative while ignoring all of the benefits then yes. Quite blatantly scare mongering.
@Tom Ripley: Here you go. A fine example of an Irish medical professional using the “torture the data and it will confess” method.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1054139X21001105?dgcid=author
If you want more misinformation please do go check out the twitter feeds of Mary Cannon, Ray walley, Bobby Smith, Kevin Sabet etc because I have literally no time for you.
@Tom Ripley: I’m not so sure about that. Alcohol has an almost non existent black market. Most people don’t want the strongest weed strain available, same way most people don’t want to buy the strongest alcohol available.
The amount of people convicted in this country for having a tiny quantity of cannabis is morally wrong.
@Tom Ripley: Tom sit down, you’re embarrassing yourself.
@Tom Ripley: why would the “stoners” not pay into the tax system in your view of the world Tom? They would pay tax, the same as the smokers or drinkers do.
@Tom Ripley: also please explain why you look for peer reviewed studies that contradict the non peer reviewed press release by the CPI that was not based on any study undertaken, but rather was a press release which contained little to no evidence designed only to counter the growing popularity of cannabis.
@Tom Ripley: alcohol is not cheap. the profit margin on cannabis is very small as it is. dealers really can’t go much cheaper or it won’t be worth their while. it is also smelly, making it difficult to distribute. powders and crystals are much easier and more profitable. a legal cannabis market would most likely push out dealers. it is more likely they’d try to strongarmtheir way to become legal distributors, by threatening honest startups.
the psychiatrists study is being misrepresented. right now the see cannabis as the highest risk for psychosis among youths. several things there to observe: youths generally don’t consume harder drugs. psychosis from cannabis is only a risk factor in people already prone to mental health issues. buying on black market means buying blind.
@Accidental Gentleman: oh I agree, buying blind.might be smelly but so well packaged the human nose isn’t always good enough. Stinks to hell though in general. Don’t see it pushing out dealers who will just sell the stronger strains.
If it did push out dealers they would just turn to coke or whatever they needed too. Bad people don’t just turn good. I’d be all for going legal as long as users sign a waiver that they won’t ever avail of public mental health services at any point in future. I’m 100% open to it then. Let users pay for private. Then by all means make it as legal as you like.
@Tom Ripley: “I’d be all for going legal as long as users sign a waiver that they won’t ever avail of public mental health services at any point in future.”
Spoken like a true bigot. Get in the bin.
@Tom Ripley: You are incorrect on just about everything and rather than edicate yout to the reality of the uses of CBD and THC is different volumes.
Different tyoes have different strngths.
Drinking so many pints a week is not bad for you, it would be if it was 100 proof vodka.
We need control of this drug as we do other for recreational and medical use.
For Big Pharma, see Oxy and the family that own it. Or research them like try the Benzo epidemic worldwide, that ana easy one just as Oxy is AKA Hillbilly Heroin. But its legal!!
@Tom Ripley: Incorrect – getting stronger weed is not the goal for the majority of smokers. Getting clean, good quality weed if the goal.
I hate to use the alcohol analogy but if I got to the pub for a drink its a pint I want – sure there are plenty of stronger options available but that isn’t what I am after.
Same for weed – the majority of smokers want to enjoy their smoke over an evening rather than take one hit and fall asleep.
Its all about letting the end user have a choice what they consume.
Also the % of THC in weed doesn’t necessarily mean it is stronger – there are about 100 different active chemicals in cannabis all playing a part in the overall effect.
This whole view that it’s difficult to prescribe chronic pain patients cannabis is pure nonsense, and simply an excuse not to take the next step forward in legalising.
So doctors can determine a chronic pain patient can be prescribed tramadol, fentanyl patches, ketamine infusions & gabapentin, but not cannabis?
So in short the majority are in favor of it being legalized so it can be regulated & allow taxation. Well that is not exactly a shock horror but let’s face it under FF/FG it would be given away to some yank multinational instead of fostering a cottage industry.
@Richard Cronin: yup… Extraordinary prices, low quality herb etc.. Under this current government it’d be a disaster in my view. I’m still all for legalisation obviously, but fg/ff would just put the subject matter in the hands of others. Imagine the industry it could create here.. Our own people growing and selling it, not just importing it from others. That’s definitely the way it would happen here under this government.
@Richard Cronin: A yank multinational is a good call but don’t rule out Dinny O’B and Goodman getting the heads up from their pals and family in government. They will be well setup and prepared to go once and when it’d green lit (excuse the pun)
Craziest headline I have seen lately!
Cork..
Adult male pleaded guilty to possession of €4 worth of cannabis and a grinder, when gardaí searched his apartment under warrant on June 19 last.
Think there are more pressing police issues around Ireland on even the quietest of days!
@D Doherty: seen it.”I would not consider community service until I know he is clean.” That’s what the judge said in this case, bloody hilarious
I was gonna read this post but then I got high “hey hey”
@James Delaney: can’t believe it’s still that low for recreational use…
I think the telling statistic from that study is that, only 4% of people said No. I believe that is a more telling sign of that there should be an open conversation about legalisation. Why (the 4%) which, from this study is clearly a very small minority are the loudest and being listened to?
Great to see. Who would have thought 20 or 30 years ago that this change in attitude would have been possible! Let’s hope the politicians listen, if they are even capable or willing….
The war on drugs has been is a massive failure but yet the countries keep doing the same thing and expecting different results. Legalize them, make them safe, get rid of the stigma and tax.
Legalizing is one thing, but how about we stop prosecuting for tiny amounts? Read only yesterday how a father of 4 was taken to court for €4 worth of cannabis! Crazy, and that judge in naas, zaidan gives sentences like he is in saudi arabia. Maybe decriminalisation would be a start.
@Stephen Nix: It’s such a waste of resources. It also blocks people from getting a clear Garda vetting.
39% is very low. And I’m surprised at 54% said “medical” only,
Demonstrates a lack of understanding about the plant itself and its inherent properties,
Cannabis is a wellness tool first and foremost, not a vice. Cannabis should be judged on its unparalleled safety record and benefits, not intent of use which is determined by the consumer, nor should it be judged when it’s not even being tested in this country and passes no safety or quality assurance tests.
Cannabis is a medicine and has been used as such for thousands of years.
@Cork Cannabis Activist Network (Ireland): You fighting against a billion dollar industry. Who wants none of this cheap medicine that they cant gouge the price on. A medicine you could grow your self. A green medicine, one without pesticides etc.
Not very capitalistic that. Where is the 1000T profit in it.
“In 2019, cannabis-based products were made available for medical use through the Medical Cannabis Access Programme. The five-year pilot programme currently allows listed products be made available to a patient when a consultant determines that they have not responded to standard treatments.”
Journal.ie/Ronán please utilise fact checking. The MCAP still isn’t active in 2021. Not a single person has been prescribed under it. And it only allows 3 conditions access to 4 products as a last resort.
@Cork Cannabis Activist Network (Ireland): I’ve been on the hospital waiting list for both knee and hip replacement, approaching 5 years now. I’m often in serious pain even laying in bed but I’m afraid of the harm of chemical pain killers. If I do not receive HSE treatment soon, and I don’t think I ever will (74) at this rate…I may try to grow the stuff for some relief. I’ll face the law, as long as I’m not in pain.
@Pádraic Ó Braonáin:
Feel free to get in touch for information:
This is such a no-brainer, it’s preposterous. Clearly cannabis should be legal.
OPEN THE CAFÉS
If there is no victim there is no crime. It isn’t anybody’s business what someone else does with a plant if they are minding their own business.
I COULD possibly injure myself or somebody else with an oak branch…or by climbing an oak tree. Shall we make oak trees illegal?
All of the arguments for keeping cannabis illegal are at that level, and would be more valid for alcohol and fast food.
It’s just another addictive/escapist emotionally-numbing stimulant.
Everyone has their own vice or coping substance; be it alcohol, smoking, gambling, medications, even caffeine.
@Dean: There are way more ‘vices’ as you call them. I think you missed a big one though, Sugar! That’s probably the vice of the majority. Walk down nearly any street and it’s clear, that Sugar is a clear problem for more people than seeing drunks on the street. In 20 years, that’ll be the main HSE problem.
@Dean: Cannabis is a wellness tool, not a vice.
@Dean: And it actually disturbs me that people agree with you.
Cannabis is not for “escaping”, nor is it physiologically addictive, nor does it numb your emotions, what ludicrousness!
You can feel free to utilise the educational resources available here: https://linktr.ee/CorkCAN
@Dean: Actually it is not at all.
@Dean: another muted
“Cannabis was the main problem drug for 24.7% of all cases entering drug treatment in Ireland in 2017 and was the most common main problem drug reported by new cases (39.1%)”
- https://www.hrb.ie/news/press-releases/single-press-release/article/hrb-compares-irish-drug-situation-with-the-rest-of-europe/
To say it’s not addictive, why are high numbers seeking treatment, and going to rehab?
Medical use I agree. But recreational?
We very much need to be less reliant on the big medical industries and reduce the side effects on pills substitution of natural remedies
@William Rowlands: What other natural remedies do you think we need to focus on, William?
40% of who?
@lelookcoco: the people asked .
@lelookcoco: The Irish people
@lelookcoco: Wow really? Make an attempt at least. 40% of people on the Red C polling list. As it says many times in the article and the attached data visuals. Visit the site and sign up. They’ll send you polls and you can give your opinion.
Open the Buds.
Ultimately it will be the “over 55s” that will decide this, as they have decided everything over the last 100 years, with very little success or of scant value to society, but hey, we’re not that bothered.
Smoking is very bad for you.
@dominic: sitting in a burning building is bad for you.
@dominic: Drinking alcohol is very bad for you and has no medicinal use, besides cleaning cuts and scrapes.
@dominic: Cannabis doesn’t need to be smoked.
The expression “Recreational use” is wrong and one not favoured by Drug Policy experts who specialise in the field of cannabis regulation. The correct expression that should have been used in the question put in the Red C poll is “Do you favour regulation of cannabis for adult use.” Child protection is a central plank to the movement to regulate cannabis for non-medical use. The expression “legalisation for recreational use” is disingenuous, misleading and often used by opponents of regulation as a slur. Nobody refers to drinking a bottle of wine or consumption of alcohol in general as “recreational use”.
@fweed: You are correct. Adult use is the correct terminology
@Alan Wright – couldn’t agree with you more in relation to sugar + its effects now / also those being stored up for the future.
40% of whom
@Disco Inferno: people like me. I’m on Red C, you can be too.
Would something like this require a referendum or simply a dail vote
@Liam: Nothing gets done with “dail votes” unfortunately.
@Liam: Dail vote.
@Liam: it’s not in our constitution so no, not a referendum.
Should be used for medical use,.
@Seán Dillon: Cannabis is inherently medicinal. Check here for why adults purchase and use cannabis from legal markets:
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0251/6343/2045/files/Five_Myths_of_Cannabis.pdf?10419
That article published by Bobby Smyth has already been debunked by many expert physicians as being 50 years out of date.
https://twitter.com/Peter_Grinspoon/status/1391473030124212225?s=19
@paul johnson: Expert physicians? That’s one GP in the pocket of the cannabis lobby. Maybe stick to official sources for your health information https://www.irishpsychiatry.ie/external-affairs-policy/public-information/effects-of-cannabis-on-mental-health/cannabis-and-your-mental-health/
Legalise It and Tax It and the benefits will be ridiculous. Would certainly pay for the added costs of COVID. You won’t be getting any Moroccan fiberglass grown in some chaps shed.
Why would anybody be against medicinal use? They are monsters.
“Cannabis” describes multiple products. Depending on the amounts of THC and CBD that get ingested by the user, they may be anything from “mostly harmless” to quite dangerous. Some of the stronger things on the market have been linked to mental health conditions, though I think that the causality is still being researched. Then, of course, some suppliers and dealers are going to cut the product with other unspecified ingredients. What I’m getting at is that we need meaningful regulation of the quality of the product, backed up by legislation and frequent testing of products bought from shop shelves etc.
@Stephen Troake: Cannabis describes a flowering plant. Those flowers naturally produce trichomes which contain phytocannabinoids like THC, CBD, CBN, CBG etc. Our bodies naturally produce endogenous cannabinoids like anandamide and 2-AG which interact with our endocannabinoid system. This is why cannabis is an effective medicine.
Cannabis is not at all dangerous when used responsibly and grown organically.
Potency has nothing to do with THC content and everything to do with drying, curing, taste, terpene profiles, flavonoids etc.
Please see here for a study which proves that THC content does not determine much of anything:
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/article-abstract/2767219
“Regardless of what type or potency of cannabis participants used, their self-reports of intoxication, or “feeling high,” were remarkably similar, as were their measures of balance and cognitive impairment.
“People in the high concentration group were much less compromised than we thought they were going to be,” said coauthor Kent Hutchison, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at CU Boulder who also studies alcohol addiction. “If we gave people that high a concentration of alcohol it would have been a different story.”
@Stephen Troake: quite dangerous? You are wrong. Show us one example of it being dangerous. Just one.
If you’re against weed being legal in Ireland you’re against safe, controlled weed. Nuf said!!
The people who run this country clearly have no believe in science, theyycrefuse to believe and take on board all of the modern scientific research, and continue to fight against it, it is an Embarrassment to us as a whole nation. Absolutely backwards we are.
@Jaymes Moynihan: James, if it’s the science you’re after, the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland have put together a very comprehensive account of the scientific evidence around the effect of cannabis on mental health – you can read it here: https://www.irishpsychiatry.ie/external-affairs-policy/public-information/effects-of-cannabis-on-mental-health/cannabis-and-your-mental-health/#1607696035641-969afbc0-f058
Cannabis,weed or whatever its called has caused a lot of trouble in my household. If its used in genuine medicinal use than that’s fine but for recreational use than no thanks. The smell is putrid and regardless of what ppl think it does affect others around you.
@Christina Colling: agree four nephews wasted thier lifes on dope 2good stonemasons and a carpenter having worked in 10 years after getting hooked
@Christina Colling: It’s called cannabis, Christina. And guess what, many people actually enjoy the smell due to the amazing terpenes it contains.
The best part is, you don’t get to decide what other people consume, especially adults, because this is what we’re talking about: cannabis for adult use. The term “recreational” undermines the legitimate benefits people get from consuming cannabis.
I also fail to see how a flower could cause problems in your household rather than lack of personal responsibility and consumption of an illegal, or contaminated product.
@Cork Cannabis Activist Network (Ireland): I kind of do have a say when it is affecting my family especially my kids
@Patrick Coffey: I’m sorry to hear that. My son has put us through hell and himself thanks to it and is dealing with the consequences of it now
@Cork Cannabis Activist Network (Ireland): also you don’t live in my household or haven’t lived my live or my families so please don’t try and understand it
@Christina Colling: How exactly? You’re providing absolutely no information to back up your claim.
You seem happy to blame cannabis for whatever the issue is.
- Was the cannabis being consumed with tobacco?
- Have you any evidence the cannabis being consumed wasn’t contaminated with mould, PGR’s pesticides, spice?
- Was a child consuming it?
@Cork Cannabis Activist Network (Ireland): I’m not going to tell my personal business just to justify my answer. Same as you, I have my opinion on it and I have my experiences so take it as that ok!. You can fight for whatever you like but it doesn’t mean everyone has to agree with it and I definitely don’t agree with it.
@Christina Colling: So you agree that leaving cannabis in the hands of an unregulated market that doesn’t require strict testing, labeling, quality assurance or ID to purchase is a good strategy which protects children, patients and adults alike in Ireland?
Wow.
@Cork Cannabis Activist Network (Ireland): no I never said I agreed with that. I agree it should be regulated and used for medicinal purposes. I have my reasons for disliking the drug and I’m sorry if those reasons aren’t agreed with but they are valid in my circumstances. You need to see it from everyone’s point of view and not just your own. Cannabis has caused a lot of heartbreak for many families including my own. As long as it doesn’t affect me or my family ppl can smoke apples for all I care
@Patrick Coffey: I’d look further into your nephews before blaming cannabis, there is more at play here
@Christina Colling: I’m trying to see if from your perspective but you’ve provided no evidence to back up what you’re saying. You also told me not to try. You can’t blame cannabis for something when the cannabis circulating in this country is not tested or regulated.
I’ll go ahead and assume you’re speaking about a teenager. Suffice it to say children shouldn’t consume any psychoactive drug like alcohol, caffeine, nicotine. Blaming a natural wellness commodity for a teenager misusing it is madness. Blame the policy, not the plant.
@Cork Cannabis Activist Network (Ireland): I would love to explain to you my hatred for this drug but its too personal to be said on a forum. And yes my son was a teen when he started using the drug. Got in with a bad crowd. Tried my hardest to steer him away from it. He is now nearly 22. A lot of people blame the parents but I can promise you I did everything in my power to help my son but unfortunately it wasn’t enough. That bad crowd were too much of an influence. So that’s the pleasant side of my reason.
@Christina Colling: I’m really sorry to hear that. At the same time, it is usually an internal mental health problem that people are going through which causes them to feel so isolated, alone, sick of life, depressed, etc. These people turn to alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, and oftentimes illegal drugs like cannabis.
What I will say is that if cannabis was legalised and regulated, your son might have had a less of a chance of obtaining cannabis at such a young age. Studies from jurisdictions where cannabis has been legalised shows that underage consumption actually reduced once the market has shifted to the legalised market. Drug dealers don’t check ID, don’t care for quality, etc.
No they don’t, 40% of dopes polled are in favour, like rte poll 100 people .
@Divad Nayr: 70% of court cases are drug related and a recent European survey found Ireland had the highest usage of cannabis use among adults with 1 in 5 having consumed it in the past 12 months. There’s a lot more people discreetly using it in the country than people may assume. This is because they are law abiding tax payers with professions, family and restrictions on international travel to consider when speaking about it. Prohibition will continue to harm and cost the state and those who actually require help the longer it continues. Its time to take an informed reassessment, looking at where its been successful internationally and break out of this cycle of doing the same thing and expecting different results.
@Divad Nayr: muted – these articles are great for identifying apes.
For anyone that is interested, here is a link to the online Irish college medical psychiatry pamphlet, which is being used by some as the alleged voice of reason in this debate, but by actually reading it, it becomes evident that it is literally a virtual copy of the original “Reefer madness” campaign that has been widely discounted as being complete rubbish.
Which propagated a narrative based on political objectives, racial discrimination and uninformed opinions, rather than medical data and facts.
Here is a quote
“Right now, there is no research to support the use of cannabis to treat mental illness.”
And yet, they can discount it entirely!
@David Van-Standen: thanks for linking that David. It’s actually an excellent evidence-based summary of the impact of cannabis use on mental health written in plain English, and it’s extensively referenced with the best scientific evidence, so you can check it yourself. I’d encourage everyone here to read it.
I’ve copied all the references here in case you’re interested:
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Cannabis is a cause of poorer health outcomes on a population level. The post-legalisation literature (for example: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/acem.13393 ) is very clear on this. I can totally understand those who want to limit supply, and there is no doubt that legalisation increases supply – they want to limit the harm to the population.
Just because we have legal drugs (alcohol, tobacco) that are similarly or more harmful does not justify in-and-of itself legalising another psychoactive substance.
While the idea of medicinal cannabis l is very nice, the evidence of its benefit in any area of medicine is weak, despite an enormous amount of study into it. As it is psychoactive, you would imagine a use for it will be found at some point, but much like cocaine, meth and MDMA, its use in medicine is likely to remain minimal until then. I would imagine that nobody would have any objection to medical legalisation if it actually worked to treat anything better than the existing options, but the fact is that there is no clear evidence that it does.
@Inky Fingers Inc.: No clear evidence? Sorry, have you been living under a rock since 2900BCE? Your response is ridiculous and shows a clear and fundamental lack of education on the matter.
@Inky Fingers Inc.: I think you need to educate yourself on the matter. This is written by Dr Kevin Hill an addiction psychiatrist. Have a read and come back to us
https://www.cannabistextbook.com/
@Inky Fingers Inc.: The use of it in the medical field is anything but weak. it is so effective the drug companies created synthetic cannabis to see instead. Except that is very dangerous and highly addictive, the natural substance is not phyisically.
@Inky Fingers Inc.: another one to mute, fantastic.
@Cork Cannabis Activist Network (Ireland): I think it is you who lack education on this issue
The College of Psychiatrists of Ireland have collated the evidence on the detrimental effects of cannabis use that are already being seen in healthcare already, even without legalisation
To quote:
“Cannabis smoke contains many toxic substances and poisons found in tobacco smoke (for example, carbon monoxide, aldehydes, acrolein, phenols and carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons).
The number of admissions to general hospitals (in Ireland) of young adults with a cannabis-related diagnosis trebled between 2005 and 2017.”
“Studies show that 1 in 5 adults who use cannabis are likely to have a cannabis dependence. The risks in young people are even higher with 1 in 3 young people likely to become addicted if they use weekly or more often.
A Cannabis Use Disorder is the most common reason young people under the age of 25 years look for addiction treatment. It is even more common than alcohol or other drugs like heroin or cocaine. The number of teenagers (aged 13-17) entering the addiction treatment service (specialist services) doubled between the year 2006 and 2016. This was based on data from National Drug Treatment Reporting System (NDTRS).”
A full list of references for this information is here: https://www.irishpsychiatry.ie/external-affairs-policy/public-information/effects-of-cannabis-on-mental-health/the-effects-of-cannabis-on-mental-health/#1613137927636-393f0e96-cb31
@paul johnson: Many thanks for your link Paul. I would suggest some reading yourself: https://www.irishpsychiatry.ie/external-affairs-policy/public-information/effects-of-cannabis-on-mental-health/cannabis-and-your-mental-health/#1607696035641-969afbc0-f058
@Inky Fingers Inc.: Hahaha, very funny. If you think citing this garbage lends your argument any weight, you sorely need to do some reading.
Any idea how Cannabis Use Disorder is diagnosed for example? Of course not. It’s done using outdated DSM-IV criteria and requires that someone only crave cannabis ONCE and accidentally consume too much ONCE within a year.
By the way, cannabis doesn’t need to be smoked and kids shouldn’t consume any psychoactive substance. Jog on.
@Gary Kearney: In what area of medicine are you specifically referring to? To my knowledge there has been multiple costly trials testing for its potential role in epilepsy, palliative medicine, oncology, psychiatry, rare neurological disorders and cardiology, and in no area has unrefined cannabis passed the relatively low bar of beneficence.
@JustBEERbarry: If you choose to bury your head in the sand and ignore opinions you disagree with instead of engaging with the facts, that’s on you.
@Inky Fingers Inc.: if you have wifi signal under your rock watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciQ4ErmhO7g
Should the title be like more than 60% opposing legalizing cannabis?
@Udaya Khandavilli: no, why would it? 40% is a huge number for Ireland. Its not that long ago I’d say a survey would have shown a 4% approval for it.
If it can be used in Medicine under supervision I have no problem with cannabis all but like all addictive substances uncontrolled use can prove harmful if taken over long periods,as for me I don’t need cannabis or do I want to need it.
When Dr Dre says “smoke weed every day” is this cause he suffers from arthritis?
So much money being left on the table.. look at US states like Colorado and Michigan making large sums of money.
Young drug users dont realise the damage they are doing to their health and to their mental capacity. This should not be legalised. Decriminalise smaller amounts but not legalised. Can the journal ask the medical profession, and the drug clinics and people working in mental health for their opinions and publish so readers can get the full picture of the damage caused by taking Drugs. All drugs.
@Stephen Maher: More incorrect information. Nobody is suggesting young people smoke weed – in my opinion the min legal age should be between 21 and 25.
have your say