Story highlights
Court of appeals rules certain parts of drug law are unconstitutional
The catch: It's still illegal to sell the drugs
Irish government is rushing to fix law
Let’s just say – hypothetically – you found yourself in possession of Ecstasy while in Ireland on Tuesday.
No worries. Everything was cool, because it wasn’t illegal Tuesday.
Wednesday could be a different story.
An appeals court ruling invalidating one section of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 made the controlled substances it had regulated legal for at least one day.
The Independent newspaper of the United Kingdom said Ecstasy, ketamine and magic mushrooms were three of the temporarily legal drugs.
The Court of Appeal ruled those drugs and others had unconstitutionally been added to Section 2 of the law.
“We prepared for this possibility. Legislation was prepared and approved in advance by Cabinet,” Minister for Health Leo Varadkar said in a written statement.
The government had to get the new legislation through parliament so the drugs added to the law since 1977 could be considered illegal again.
It should happen within 24 hours, the Department of Health said Tuesday.
Drugs such as cannabis, cocaine and heroin remained illegal as did the sale of “psychoactive substances.”
The Independent said past convictions for some drug offenses will be called into question but The Journal of Ireland said the court’s decision will impact only cases currently in the judicial process.
