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15 years for seriously harmful cannabis       printable version
21 May 2014 filed by editor - Editorial

Patrick ScanlanIt is of concern that a High Court judge has unqualifiedly linked cannabis with the 'serious harm done to society by drugs' in sentencing a man to 15 years in jail for importing cannabis.

Patrick Scanlan, 54, was sentenced to 15 years on Tuesday by Judge Carroll Moran at Limerick Circuit Court after being found guilty of four charges relating to the importation and possession of 4kg of cannabis said to be worth €79,000 in August 2013.

Scanlan, originally from Loughill in Co Limerick but with an address in Jersey, had previously served seven years in prison when he was convicted in December 2000 for having for sale or supply £1.3m worth of cannabis. The court heard that he had had never accumulated any personal wealth or property from drugs.

In speaking of the 'serious harm' in direct association with cannabis or marijuana, Judge Moran is making an unqualified statement on an unquantified subject.

Had Scanlan's case involved heroin, crack, cocaine or others of the deadly or riskier black market drugs, such comment by the Judge may have been appropriate.

It is however highly inappropriate for a judge to make such an unqualified statement in a court of law as factual to the severity of sentence then imposed by the judge.

Marijuana is now legal in many countries of the world and as of recent months has been legalised in some U.S. states.

Linking cannabis or marijuana with dangerous drugs is a misnomer based on hearsay and opinion and not fact.
Irish law regarding cannabis or marijuana is archaic and must be repealed to take into account known scientific fact.
see RTE report


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