A local councillor has highlighted the need to enact urgent legalisation to regulate the sale of ‘cannabinoid’ products.
HHC is a synthetic version of the active chemical in the naturally occurring cannabis plant.
Cllr Stiofan Conaty says there has been little to no research done on its long or short-term effects. He says anecdotal evidence tells us that, in some people prone to mental health difficulties, it can induce psychosis.
Cllr Conaty says it's being sold in every vape shop in Ireland and it is available to anyone over the age of 18. The Sinn Fein councillor called on Cavan County Council to write to the relevant ministers to ask them to explore the regulation of HHC, with a view to evaluating if it, or some version of it, can be made safe.
He believes the outright criminalisation of cannabis was a mistake, adding that it has left hard-working and decent people with criminal records.
"Unlike this new synthetic version, cannabis in its original form can give relief to those with chronic pain or illness, relax those with severe anxiety, harness creativity in our artists, provide a gateway out of addiction to serious drugs. The benefits are many and Ireland is missing out. We need only look to Canada, the United States, South Africa, Uruguay, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and many more countries around the world, who have already taken steps towards either decriminalisation or legalisation and unlocked major societal and economic benefits.
"I was encouraged to learn that FF has now adopted a position similar to my own and has seen that there are many benefits to liberalising the laws around cannabis, as contained in its 2024 G-Election manifesto. It is my hope that they follow through on this election promise and that we can open up a mature debate around cannabis in Ireland, avoiding use of lazy and simplistic arguments, and unthinkingly lumping it into the same classification as hard drugs.
"HHC is dangerous and it exists only to fill a niche in the market brought about by the criminalisation of the far safer, natural form of the plant. While this state of prohibition continues, we have no choice but to try to make HHC, or some version of it, safe. I think that once we go down that particular path, we will find that the naturally occurring form of the plant is far better than any synthetic version."
