Some Irish eyes may be smiling because more than 100 drugs, including ecstasy and magic mushrooms, are now legal in Ireland — but lawmakers are expected to quickly close the legal loophole.
The Irish Court of Appeal ruled Tuesday that a section of the 1977 Misuse of Drugs Act was unconstitutional, thus legalizing the drugs, The Journal reported.
Irish officials plan to pass an emergency bill to recriminalize the drugs, but it wouldn’t go into effect until Thursday — providing a 48-hour window of legalized drug use.
“We had no way of knowing what the court would decide today, but we prepared for this possibility,” Minister for Health Leo Varadkar told the Irish Examiner. “Legislation was prepared and approved in advance by Cabinet. The emergency legislation I am introducing today will reinstate the status quo ante and recontrol all drugs that were controlled prior to this judgment.”
In addition to ecstasy and magic mushrooms, the affected drugs include benzodiazepines and “new psychoactive substances, so-called ‘headshop drugs,’” the Health Department said in a statement, UPI reported.
Older drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and heroin remained illegal under previous laws.
The court’s ruling calls “dozens” of drug convictions into question, Varadkar said.
“I’m told it’s dozens, but I can’t say for certain because what they’ll have to do now is go through each individual case and see if the people in question were charged just under this section of the act, or if they were charged with other acts as well,” he said.