The war on herbal highs and herbs

national | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis Saturday December 06, 2008 11:59 by S.C. - Deep Route Gardening

An overview of the recent raids on Irish "Head Shops", and the current controversy surrounding legal alternatives to street drugs.

On the sixth of November the Gardai raided our shops, The Funky Skunk on Lavitt's Quay in Cork and Deep Route Gardening in Limerick. This was part of a country wide campaign on 22 shops to find anything that might be illegal and was specifically targeted at the detection of two hallucinogenic plant-based products, one, LSA, which is contained in some seeds such as Hawaiian Baby Woodrose and Morning Glory and the other, Mescaline which is found in some cacti such as San Pedro and Peyote.

They took away all the Hawaiian Baby Woodrose from our Cork shop and a selection of herbs from our Limerick shop although they left the Hawaiian Baby Woodrose seeds alone in Limerick as if they didn't know exactly what they were looking for. This is not the first time that they have taken away completely legal things and they have never returned anything to us that they have taken away before. However, this was the first nationwide campaign and it reflects the growing fear from parents and politicians over what head shops sell.

With Magic Mushrooms a loophole in legislation meant that unprocessed or untreated samples could be sold legally over the counter. They were very popular amongst some until an accidental death caused them to be banned entirely. Then there was Ephedra or Ma Huang , a herb that was used for weight loss and was also used as a herbal high. It was banned because of its possible side-effects. St John's Wort, Ginseng, Comfrey and Ginko have also been banned in Ireland for similar reasons. St John's Wort which was used for depression by many people then became a controlled drug because of possible side-effects, such as fatigue and photosensitivity, and the possibility of the herb interacting with prescribed medicines. Kava-kava had been identified as causing liver problems. Ginko and Ginseng have been identified with some other health problems.

Although it seems these herbs cause medical problems, many believe that these problems have been exaggerated and compared to some mainstream medicines they are relativity safe. Many direct deaths are caused by prescription drugs such as the group of tranquillizers called benzodiazepines which includes Valium and many medicines also have side-effects too numerous to mention. However herbs that don't make big money for big businesses are an easy target for control.

To use herbs as medicine or for recreational use requires the user to be responsible. We believe that the herbal highs that we sell are a great alternative to illegal drugs because the money goes through legitimate taxpaying businesses, rather than criminals. Our smoking mixes, Smoke and Spice are a great smoke without the paranoid and mental disabling side-effects of Cannabis while our party pills are a much safer alternative to illegal ecstasy tablets.

How can anything natural be illegal when we can grow it in our garden? Surely we have this right and the right to use things responsibly. More knowledge is also needed about herbs and natural highs in order to use them correctly. The government’s policy of banning everything will effect everyone and who knows when it will stop. Only by stating our case and working together can we have a hope of turning the tide.

We have heard that BZP might be banned in March. It is derived from the pepper plant and it is the main ingredient in many herbal high pills. It has being compared to illegal drugs in strength and dangers but the comparison is unjustified and the law makers don't seem to realize the role that these herbal highs have for people as alternatives to illegal drugs nor do they respect peoples rights to use natural substances.

Herbal highs are just going to increase in popularity and there are many that aren't being sold yet. As one thing gets banned there will be another to take its place and hopefully we will be left with the most safe and effective herbal highs possible. And maybe a fair opinion on them too.