GOVERNMENT MUST REGULATE ‘HEADSHOP’ SECTOR
Issued : Tuesday 23 February, 2010
Following on from the call at Februarys town council meeting, Labour Cllr. Ciara Conway calls on the government and in particular Minister of Health Mary Harney and Justice Minister Dermot Ahern to sit down without delay, and outline just how they propose to tackle this issue.
There is an urgent need for a framework to be put in place to regulate the operation of headshops. These shops have sprung up around the country and they are peddling substances that are untested and potentially very dangerous. As a result, parents are becoming extremely worried that the health and welfare of their children is being put at risk. Dungarvan Town Councillors and the Executive must be proactive on this issue and ensure that any future town development plans prohibit such a ‘business’ from opening in our town .Few if any of the products sold in these shops, include a comprehensive list of ingredients on their packaging and many of them are sold with misleading branding and labelling. Generally speaking, these shops do not take out product liability insurance, so if a problem does arise, the scope for a customer pursuing the matter is extremely limited. There have been media reports where in December alone six young people were admitted to Cork University Hospital suffering the ill-effects of these ‘herbal highs’. The government must address these concerns as a matter of extreme urgency.
