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You are > Home > Why is there a delay in banning head shop substances?
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Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Why is there a delay in banning head shop substances?
SIR – I am writing to you to express my concern about the delay in introducing a ban on certain products such as mephadrome from headshops.
The Government has suggested, albeit in a misleading manner, that under EU legislation, governments must give 90 days notice to the EU Commission if they intend to ban products. This is in order to prevent member states from engaging in anti competitive practices.
The Government is therefore blaming the EU for the delay in introducing new measures to protect our young people from these dangerous products which are so readily available over the counter.
I would like to point out that five EU states have already banned certain substances from head shops with no difficulty whatsoever.
These states managed to invoke the Public Health Derogation to EU competition law. Article 36 of the TEU (ex. Article 30) states that “protection of health and life of humans, animals or plants” takes priority over competition law.
It astounds me that the Government has managed to misinterpret and misunderstand such fundamental rules of the EU, contained in the treaties, which make provision to protect our young.
All the available medical evidence suggests that mephadrome is a highly dangerous drug which can cause short term hallucinations and in some cases can even be fatal. Our young people are in danger today – why is the Government waiting 90 days in order to remove this danger from our society?
Yours sincerely,
Jim Higgins MEP,
Cloonturk,
Co Mayo
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