Got sent this (Thanks to Liam Byrne) and as its a hot issue I thought I’d post it. Its has some questions and answers, details of whats available and a message to lobby your TD over the issue…
“What is a Head Shop? – Head shops are retail outlets selling psychoactive, mood-altering “legal highs” as well as drugs paraphernalia. They have a variety of quirky names that appeal to young people.”
The Roscommon Anti Head Shops group have protested outside the Dail and have a continuos picket outside the shop in Roscommon. They were featured in a documentary on Head Shops by RTE.
Irish Election Literature 
[…] A leaflet distributed outside masses last Sunday in Roscommon by the ‘Roscommon Anti Head Shops Group’ […]
All those “reported effects of legal highs” could also relate to Alcohol – every one of them.
Still good to see something been done about these shops.
If there were no customers there would be no business! If the Head Shops close then the punters will go back to the street dealers! Where’s the good in that? It’s education that’s required and perhaps the leaflet will at the very least achieve that?
From the perspective of political ephemera, it’s a nice one. In a few years the whole episode will be forgotten and only the leaflet will remain to remind historians of the fact! Thats one of the reasons why we have to be thankful for this collection! Well done A.
Thanks for posting the flyers!
These are great.. inspirational!
Hope the anti-drug campaigns roll out rapidly across Ireland! Keep up the good work to those involved. You can drive this filth, and the scum who peddle it, from these pleasant lands.
On a personal note,.. someone was telling me how his best friend who started out using methedrone recreationally, now has to inject two grams of the poison into his veins every day just to function…
And it’s costing him GB£150 a week to feed that “legal” habit.
Be warned!
I heard recently about a young girl (second year college student) who ended up with bi-polar disorder after trying some of the junk! 😦 I’m not a doctor but as you say – be warned!
You sir are a fool. Injecting mePHedrone is a stupid idea and that friend needs his head examined and not as a result of the drugs – as a result of being an idiot in the first place.
If it wasn’t mephedrone he was injecting it would be toilet cleaner. SAVE THE CHILDREN doesn’t work anymore when the adults are bigger idiots than the kids.
Thats Methadrone, the heroin subsitute dispensed by addiction centres, not Methalone, the designer drug we are discussing here, which cannot be injected.
Heaven forbid fundamental ignorance might get in the way of a debate on drugs policy.
Actually, methadone is the heroin substitute. Methadrone is what is sold in head shops (or was sold), and methalone is a body building steroid. Just to clarify.
Reactionary idiots win out. The street dealers will be pleased and drug use will remain at the same levels
Scare mongering is not the answer. http://barnaville.wordpress.com/2010/04/23/shouldlegalhighsbebanned/ I’ve written my thoughts, have a read and feel free to leave comments.
It was the mother of another affected youth who told me the story – and I don’t see any point in her telling me lies! Is it scaremongering if it’s YOUR child who is affected by these substances? Everyone has an opinion – and a right to it, but I have only one – quaere verum!
I was a kid once. It was easier to get cannabis than alcohol. There were no “alcohol dealers” because it was legal. Most head shops impose a self ban of under 18’s. I’m quite sure any young people over 18 are capable of standing up for themselves. Be honest on this topic, listen to both sides of the argument before venting anger.
I’m not angry – I smoked pot when I was younger, before I gave up smoking of every kind! I don’t use artificial chemicals any more – I found an alternative! I am all for “open competition” in business. And every adult to do “their own thing”! I’ve heard the arguments in favour of legal cannabis for people suffering pain! I have no arguments with them – but my neighbour scared the shit out of me with the story of her 15 year old son – and I don’t see why she would want to lie!
If you are one of the “lucky” ones – (as I am, I’ve managed to survive pot and alcohol) – then fair-play! But not everyone is lucky – not everyone survives! If Head Shops are safe places – then fair play to them, normal business rules apply, if not – then they should be closed down! I don’t think there are many people who would disagree with that!
The Latin phrase “Quaere Verum” means “seek the truth”! Not my truth, not your truth – the real truth!
Her *15* year old son… the problem here is the mother, not the son, not the headshops, not anyone else. 15 year old children should be supervised and when their parents are otherwise engaged then what can you expect. a 15 year old will do everything he is told not to do, it’s in their nature, a mother who complains of this fact simply should not be allowed to have any further children.
I agree, the truth is whats needed. But reactionary protests and demanding blanket bans does work. This could be the oppourtunity to try something new.
Reactionary politics works because most people are too lazy to think for themselves! Always has and always will! Head Shops are just one example of many!
My main interest is in the paperwork of politics – political ephemera! The paper won’t refuse ink and is only one opinion – but it might be the only opinion that survives! The saying goes “if it isn’t written down it never happened”! That’s why this website is so important!
Good luck with your project – new thinking is radical politics!
Nice one Jay C – blame the mother! Never mind what they sell in the shops – it’s the mothers fault! She should have had a leash on her son! After all what 15 year old can be let off on his own these days? I guess you are probably against giving the vote to 15 – 16 year olds then? And you approve of Eugenics – steralise the poor woman immediately, and why stop with her ….! Sorry bud, your comments do not qualify for “Quaere Verum”! 😦
Well done to all those involved in the protest against these head shops. you cant even get two packets of panadol in a shop these days. Why should you be able to get these drugs so easily ? Its the fact that these shops make them so easily available to so many young vulnerable people that is so dangerous. Many of the same young people would not deal with drugs otherwise. These drugs lead to mental illness, suicide and outbursts of anger which could also lead to dangerous driving on the roads. What kind of politicians do we have that allow such shops to open up. Are they not interested in keeping our young people safe and away from criminal behaviour. There will be more crime on our streets because of these drugs. How many young people have to die or be imprisoned or else admitted to a psychiatric hospital before we sit up and take notice.
From what I’m hearing, the problem with head shop drugs seems to be that there is no “lead-in” time to critical reaction? It seems that even one experiment can cause a major effect in the individual! This is quite different to cigarettes, alcohol or even cannabis, where someone can try one, without immediately having a chronic reaction!
The fact that these drugs leave no trace in the bloodstream has led some people to think that they are a major cause of suicide – but if they leave no trace, how can we be sure? The authorites could get the top scientists in to try to prove the link between these drugs and suicide – there must be some way to prove it, one way or the other? Then we will all have the knowledge we need! Quaere Verum!
Beware Panadol, it can kill. The statistics are there. http://barnaville.wordpress.com/2010/05/04/a-reaction-to-rtes-unbalanced-head-shops-program/
Have a read, open your mind a little.
I don’t have a closed mind, in fact my mind is wide open! There is some risk with everything (even salt and sugar) – but some risks are manageable and some are worth taking! Panadol and Aspro might cause occasional serious side-effects but they still do more good than harm! What good do head shop drugs offer?
The athletics bodies can tell when an athlete uses a banned substance, even a tiny amount of it! So why can’t the scientists do the same for head-shop substances? PROVE that head-shops are not dangerous! Your argument misses the point – it only proves that Panadol is sometimes dangerous!
For what it’s worth I’ve written an article in the Socialist Voice on the headshop issue.
The guide to the different substances on offer might actually be quite useful to a newbie thinking of giving them a try 🙂
Paranoia, Anxiety and Fear indeed !
And sure if he kills himself, at least the eejit knew what he was doing!!! 😦
Have they shut down headshop in ross?!
Don’t know Lyndsey, I believe some shops have closed today! You’ll see the politicians taking great credit for their part in closing them down – but that’s a “no-brainer”! Pity they can’t put half as much effort into finding a solution for the people who use the shops? I have no truck with head shops! I agree with barrygruff – there needs to be an intelligent discussion on all types of drug use in Ireland (did you read we’re the top of the league in Europe for “binge drinking”)! Don’t hold your breath though!
Cheers Liam.
YES we have, SUCCESS is sweet!!
It seems to me that what is needed urgently is a National Conference on the Misuse of Drugs in Ireland? To find out why these shops suddenly sprung up, what they sold, who they sold it to and why, why (according to Eurobarometer) we are the biggest binge drinkers in Europe and many other such things.
A small window of opportunity exists, with the headshops issue still a hot-topic in the press, for everyone to lobby the politicians to get the Government to hold the Conference! Soon the furore will have died down and will be forgotten again, until the headshops make good on their threat “gone, for now”! Could everyone email their County Politicians on the issue? Would it work?
The hell with ye, the drug dealers are just going to get richer now that the head shops are closed, where are ye protesters now,, when gangland killings are happening every other day.. we had a good chance to regulate the drug scene.. you think all you are so high and mighty. there will always be a demand for drugs, no point burying your heads in the sand.
PS Your 15 year old son/daughter knows full well where they can get any illegal high, in fact they would get that far easier then trying to get served in a head shop,
Your kids will make a far bigger arses of themselves on alcohol.
They will crap their bed, puke all over the place, or knock some young one up and you will just try to blame something else, like pear pressure or how easy it is to get alcohol, cop on!