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GARDAÍ YESTERDAY SEIZED 160 kilos of cannabis worth over over €3.2 million.
The drugs were found in a raid carried out as part of ongoing joint investigations targeting gangs in Ireland. As part of the investigations, raids were conducted by the Revenue Commissioners Customs Service, the Drugs & Organised Crime Bureau and the Special Crime Task Force supported by Garda officers from the Eastern Region.
A number of people and vehicles were intercepted in the Ashbourne area of Meath at around 4pm yesterday and a business premises also searched. During the search operation approximately 160 kilos of cannabis herb was seized.
Four Irish men, aged between 25 and 61, were arrested for drug trafficking offences and are currently detained at Finglas and Kells Garda Stations under the provisions of drug trafficking legislation.
The street value of the drugs seized is estimated at €3.2 million.
Gardaí say that joint investigations by themselves and Revenue are continuing both domestically and internationally with regard to the find, which they believe were destined for the Irish market.
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People have been consuming drugs for literally thousands of years!! Ancient Egyptian mummies when examined by scientists who found traces of cocaine in their remains..
Let me repeat, people have always consumed drugs and always will!! Its small minded fools like some of the commenters on this thread who whinge and moan about how bad it would be to legalize and tax! Wake up.
All of the money we could save on chasing dealers, tax revenues, the social programs we could put in place to help addicts as opposed to prosecuting etc etc. There is far more benefits to regulation than prohibition.
Any one of us could pick up the phone and source any quantity of illegal drugs in a very short space of time. Clearly prohibition is not working.
The people who are having a feckin great time are the dealers!! Who get to sell heavily altered and watered down substances, make lots of cash and generally have a laugh at the Gardai!
Also the idea of “illegal drugs” is a social construct.
Maybe if those mummies didn’t consume drugs they would still be alive. my mummy only takes hash and lsd and she’s doing fine
@KrusadingKarl: bodies from thousands of years ago have shown evidence of violent deaths. Slaves in ancient Rome and most other empires were subjected to systematic rape.
People have always been killing and raping.
Imagine what the tax from that could go towards
I’d imagine it would be a high tax as well.
If they tax it too much the dealers would undercut the dispensaries. Just like the illegal tobacco market now.
If they go off the Canadian/american model, legalisation would work fine
No doubt they’d put an Irish twist on it and mess that up too… Seriously though I came across a forum the other day and a lad in North America was saying he could get similar weed on the black market for $6 a gram instead of $10 dollars for the same amount.
Dene , i see what you’re getting at but it wouldn’t be free, as you’ve to buy the seeds and equipment to grow it properly. It also takes time, effort and some skill. Only a handful of people grow their own veg , could you be bothered to go to that effort if there’s a dispensary or a supermarket 5mins down the road.
@Fionn Bohane: i think there is, like all things, a market of people who will still buy the fully legal stuff even if its a few quid more, I know I would. Shops still sell cigarettes, they wouldn’t if people were not buying them!
I get that but high taxes on creates a black market..
Legalise and put the gards back in the streets.
@Louis Jacob:
I agree lets just legalize this and cut out the Bulls**it and control criminal gangs have over it, this is why they blow each others brains out along with innocent people. Walk down any street in Ireland and you will get a smell of cannabis, the demand will not go away, the vacuum is being supplied by very dangerous people.
Legalised wouldnt take it off the streets, unless it is given away for free, which makes the most sense as its stupidly cheap to grow anyway.
Ashbourne? More like Hashbourne
That would have kept them going for a few days.
Well done the boys in blue.
These drugs must be kept off our streets.
Zero tolerance.
Correct me if I’m wrong but does that work out at €1975 per kilo? Is that the going rate? I haven’t a clue but it seems excessive.
They’re saying it’s 20k a kilo because if you break it down into bags that’s the street value but realistically these lads were selling in bulk so their take would be less. I could be wrong myself but I think the going rate is 4k a kilo..
@Brian MacCarthaigh:it works out at €20000 per kg roughly. yes, that is the going rate for good weed sold in small amounts. they calculate the potential value based on it being sold in small amounts at the maximum price it is likely to enter the market; hence the term ‘street value’ and not wholesale.
@Brian MacCarthaigh: ill take two at that price and i don’t even smoke the stuff
somebodys medicine gone.just legalize
Even less in street value, Brian. Gardai seem to think the average price per gram is 20 – 25. You’d easily get two grams for that price
this is what the so called war on drugs leads to —> https://qz.com/900039/dutertes-war-on-drugs-has-created-an-economy-of-murder-in-the-philippines-says-amnesty-international/
If wishes were horses beggars would ride. It is not legal and taxed. It’s not going to bring legal and taxable any time soon so why people keep repeating the same mantra about legalisation and taxing when they know full well it’s not happening is mind boggling.
Very well said …..
@Mick Jordan: it’s getting closer all the time. Don’t try and pretend it’s not changing.
@Finn Bar Regany: garda mick is a legend round these parts
Louis. Is it? Remind me what was the result last vote for general legalisation in the Dail.
@Mick Jordan: You’re right Mick, lets continuing pissing away millions on a war that’s failed miserably. Nothing like continuing do the same thing over and over and expect different results. Can’t get more Irish than that!
Patient. The diffrence between me and you is, if ever it was legalised I wouldn’t constantly moaning and whinging about it being legal on the Journal. I would accept it. You on the other hand simply can’t accept the simple facts as they currently stand. That the majority of the population have no interest in legalising it for general use.
Les. Answer me on question. Is there a push from majority of the general population to get it legalised. Yes or No?
@Mick Jordan: Yes. Look at Colorado, California, Massachusetts, Canada not to far away. Big Pharma doling out nice envelopes to the boys in Congress. Thank god this war is crumbling. The burning question will Trump reverse this.
Brendan. They are on the far side of the Atlantic. And I will ask you the same question I asked Les. Where is the mass movement for legalisation by the majority of the general public?
@Mick Jordan: So as long as the majority don’t want it, we should just continue wasting millions every year? Yeah that makes no sense at all!
Mick , you think we should accept everything without expressing an opinion? I’ll accept a law if I agree with it , if I don’t I’ll question it.Good day.
3monkey. Expressing your opinion I have no problem with. But when the opnion becomes whining then it becomes boring.
Les. So you don’t believe in the the will of the majority?
Is the will of the majority necessarily the right thing ? America , case in point.
So if it’s boring to you , then we can’t question anything ? Because you see it as whining?
3monkey. It becomes whiney and boring when it expressed time after time after time. It is not legal. The majority of the population don’t want it legalised. Build a bridge and get over it. And if a day comes that the majority of the population do want to legalise it I will accept the majority view without complaint.
“Is the Majority view the right thing”. Yes it is if you live in a democracy. I don’t like Enda or his government but they formed the biggest party from the will of the voters. So I accept it.
Paddywackery they call it
That’s your choice Mick , if you view people expressing an opinion repetively as whining then you’ve lost the argument.I don’t see your view expressed here more than once ,of cannabis legalisation as whining.
I’d say you’re job would be a lot easier if it was.
It would make no diffrence to my job legal or illegal.
@Mick Jordan:”The majority of the population dont want it legalised”
Ok Mick, where is your proof of that?
@Mick Jordan: maybe we don’t live in a full democracy mick?
Mick , you could just skip by any article here with ” Cannabis” in the title and you’d never hear our opinions, sorry, whineing.
Mick can u provide evidence that the majority of the country is against it? It’s legal in spain, Portugal, Holland etc. And since Portugal decimalised it crime has gone down dramatically
RuaUisce. Where are the hundreds of thousands marching and demonstrating? Where is the millions of signatures on a petition? That is my proof.
Ah Mick , that’s your argument ? Seriously?
3monkey. Some of the most widely used drugs being sold illegally on our streets are Vallium and Diazoplam. Both are legal when sold under a Doctors perscription. They are regulated and taxed accordingly. Yet criminal gangs make huge profits selling them illegally. Tobacco. Taxed regulated, sold legally, but we still have criminal gangs smuggling huge quantities into the country. Diesel. Taxed regulated, sold legally. Again huge problems with smuggling. Same with Alcohol. Like wise criminals involved in VRT fraud importing cars.
Mick , here’s the thing that’s really going to confuse you.I can grow a cannabis plant under the clear blue sky without ever approaching a dirtbag dealer.Those that don’t grow could , but at a reasonable set price or rate , buy it from a licensed dispensary. Heck it cold even be taxed by a government!!! As for black marketing as you speak of , that’s always going to be there , sick as it is.
Mick have u ever been to a country where it’s legal(bar Holland) and seen how smoothly it works, no kids standing out side trying to get u to buy them stuff, no people falling around wasted. Pharma drugs, the ones you have mentioned are highly addictive and are a terrible comparison to cannabis
Mick , what’s your opinion on the consumption of Alcohol ?
3monkey. I can distill alcohol too. Doesn’t make what I am did legal though. Or I could launder diesel and sell it, legal? No!! So yes you could grow it. But get caught then face the consequences.
3monkey. Alcohol is legal. Because the Majority wish it so. I neither drink or smoke myself so I don’t care. But the simple fact at the heart of this matter is Cannibis is not legal for general use. It is unlikely to be legalised in the foreseeable future because the majority of the Public don’t wish it so. Now if you and those who believe it should be legalised then I suggest you gain majority public support and force a change in the law.
Clever Jake. If you have the support to have it legalised then do it. Otherwise just accept that it is illegal.
No , that wasn’t my question Mick.What’s your opinion on alcohol ?
I gave it. I don’t have an opinion on it either way. But it is legal because the majority wish it so just as tobacco is currently but falling out of favour. So like I said a few times already. Get the majority of the Public behind you and have the law changed. ( I won’t be holding my breath)
Here we go. I was wondering when the crazies would appear.
Clever. If we don’t have a democratic system then how do explain Ming Flanagan getting to be TD or Wallace, Daly, Boyd Barrett or that other lunatic from Kerry (can’t remember his name).
@Clever Jake: If a TD feels that strongly about an issue the whip system would make very little difference. If you don’t like the whip system then don’t join a party.
If all those that want to see it legalised then why don’t you all start your own “Democratic” Party, Stand for election to the Dail, get the biggest number of TD’s elected and then change the laws you don’t agree with. Don’t just whinge about it, do something about it if you can.
Very disappointing Mick. Must try harder.
@Daffy the Bear: That’s the thing Daffy. I don’t have to. I a happy with the way the law stands.
@Mick Jordan:
as long as you are happy mick
that’s the main thing
Great work. I can sleep so peacefully in a drug free Ireland.
There’s a rat in the kitchen…..
Good headline: ash burn.
Oh yeah, can we leave the whole legalization tax benefit to the exchequer red herring aside please.
The state must not seek to benefit from immoral gains in a civilised society.
@Alex Falcone: Lol! ‘immoral’… these threads are the best! :)
Legalise and regulate already!
have your say