Drugs

Around 140,000 tablets intended for illegal distribution over the internet have been seized in Northern Ireland in part of a global operation co-ordinated by Interpol. The Northern Ireland operation, carried out by Organised Crime Task Force (OCTF) partners, was part of the global "Operation Pangea

Drugs prosecutions in Scotland have plummeted following a change in policy. Figures show that cases have halved in four years, with prosecutors applying what they say is "smart", not "soft touch" justice, our sister publication Scottish Legal News reports.

Cocaine use is "rampant" in cases coming before the family courts in Dublin, a solicitor has said. Family lawyer Sandra McAleer said cocaine is no longer a "rich man's drug" and is increasingly playing a role in domestic violence cases in particular.

The Government has announced what it calls "significant reforms" to the possession of drugs for personal use in Ireland, introducing alternatives to prosecution for first and second offences but rejecting decriminalisation. Liam Herrick, executive director of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (I

A man who was found with drugs valued at nearly €270,000 during a search of his house has had his sentence decreased in the Court of Appeal. Finding that the original sentence of ten years with the final three suspended was “an error of principle” due to the very strong mitigation w

Proposals to establish Ireland's first medically supervised injection facility (MSIF) for drug users have been rejected by Dublin City Council. The council said the proposed facility would be bad for tourism and the local area, TheJournal.ie reports.

A man who was convicted of cultivating over one hundred cannabis plants in the attic of his home in Tipperary has lost an appeal against the severity of the five-year sentence imposed upon him by Clonmel Circuit Court. Finding no error in principle with the sentence, Ms Justice Máire Whelan s

The Government will tomorrow consider a series of recommendations on personal drug possession from an expert group chaired by Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan. According to the Irish Independent, the group has not recommended decriminalisation but has set out proposals for cautions for those caught with d

Niall Neligan, lecturer in criminal law and drug policy regulation at the School of Law, Languages & Social Sciences at Technological University Dublin, contributes to the debate around cannabis and the law. For those of us who approach the subject of cannabis from the regulatory perspective, we

A city in the United States has voted to effectively decriminalise the use and possession of magic mushrooms. In the first-ever US referendum on magic mushrooms, 50.6 per cent of voters in Denver, Colorado voted to bar officials from "spending resources to impose criminal penalties" for the use or p

A controversial ban on the sale of new psychoactive substances (NPS) in Ireland has succeeded in reducing health problems associated with their use, according to new research. In an article published by the journal Early Intervention in Psychiatry, researchers said the 2010 ban was followed by head

A man who was sentenced to five years imprisonment for conspiracy to import and possession with intent to supply cocaine has lost an appeal against his conviction. The man had argued that the search warrant for his flat in Dublin was invalid because it was almost identical to the original search war

Tens of thousands of convictions for cannabis possession could be dismissed or reduced automatically under a pioneering scheme launched by prosecutors in California. District Attorneys Jackie Lacey of Los Angeles County and Tori Verber Salazar of San Joaquin County have jointly announced their parti

Amnesty International Ireland has joined groups calling for the possession of drugs for personal use to be decriminalised by the Government. It is to add its support to the Ana Liffey Drug Project’s campaign, backed by civil groups and politicians.