Letters to the Editor: Parent says Ireland should ban synthetic cannabinoid HCC
France, Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland have moved to impose strict controls on synthetic cannabinoids including HHC. iStock
I would like to raise awareness of hexahydrocannabinol (HHC) with members of the Government, Dáil Éireann, An Taoiseach, An Tánaiste, media representatives, and your readers.
I write not just as a citizen, but as a devastated parent — a parent whose family has been shattered by the insidious grip of HHC.
This is a plea, a warning, and an urgent demand for immediate action. Our children’s lives are at stake.
HHC, a dangerous synthetic cannabinoid, is being sold openly in vape shops across Ireland. But this is not a harmless product.
Young people across Ireland are using HHC unaware it can cause:
- Severe anxiety, paranoia, and psychosis;
- Long-term cognitive impairment and addiction;
- Depression and suicidal ideation;
- Physical health risks, including rapid heart rate and seizures.
And yet, while other European countries have taken swift action to protect their citizens, Ireland has done nothing.
France has classified HHC as a narcotic, making it illegal; Austria and Denmark have banned it outright; Germany and Switzerland have imposed strict controls on synthetic cannabinoids.
Ireland is lagging behind, leaving our children exposed to an unregulated substance that is already destroying lives.
I speak from personal experience. My 17-year-old daughter’s life has been nearly ruined by HHC. She purchased HHC vapes from local vape shops freely, without question, using her own bank card. We have the proof of transactions.
When we turned to the gardaí for help, we were met with indifference: “She is 17, and it’s a legal substance.”
Legal? At what cost? My daughter is now battling addiction and struggling with severe mental health issues. She is under the care of a psychiatrist and psychologist, and the weight of this battle has forced her to leave school. Our family is living a nightmare. But we are not alone. This is happening in homes and schools across Ireland. Vape shops are profiting off the destruction of our children’s futures.
I may not have been born in Ireland, but this country is my home, and I love it as my own. That is why I refuse to stay silent. I refuse to let more children fall victim to this silent epidemic.
I urge the Government to:
- Ban HHC in Ireland. No loopholes, no delays. Follow the lead of other European nations and put public health before profit;
- Regulate vape shops rigorously. Mandatory age verification, severe penalties for selling to minors, and strict oversight are all essential;
- Launch a nationwide awareness campaign. Parents, teachers, and teenagers must understand the true dangers of HHC before more lives are destroyed.
This is not just a policy issue — it is a moral imperative.
For the sake of our children, ban HHC now.
In his interview with the Irish Examiner, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that he won’t be “hectoring and lecturing” US president Donald Trump about his recent proposal to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza (‘Micheál Martin interview’, February 8).
Regrettably, this reads like a curt dismissal of the many sincere people who believe the Irish Government must stand up more robustly for international humanitarian law and for the right of Palestinians to self-determination. Why deploy such pejorative terms? Nobody is asking the Taoiseach to “hector” or “lecture” anyone.
However, what Mr Trump has suggested is utterly outrageous and the pushback from countries in the global north, such as Ireland, certainly needs to be stronger.
The fact that ethnic cleansing has been proposed by the US president is an alarming indication of his contempt for international law, but, more importantly, it has emboldened those in Israel who wish to make it happen.
Of course, this also raises questions about whether the Taoiseach should go to the White House at all for the St Patrick’s Day event — if he is invited. There are suggestions that the annual shenanigans should be boycotted this year because of Mr Trump’s various egregious actions in recent weeks.
My own view is that the tradition of St Patrick’s Day at the White House has never been a good idea, partly because of the shape of the event. In truth, it has all the look of a fawning vassal paying homage to a half-interested emperor. This year presents an excellent opportunity to end the embarrassing practice.
Mick Clifford’s article — ‘No room for closure when history is rewritten’ (Irish Examiner, February 8) rightly highlights the problem we face on this island in dealing with our recent past. Our only criticism is that he does not include all those concerned.
The Irish Government and politicians in almost every political party on these islands have sought to draw a line under the Troubles with the Good Friday Agreement. While commiserating with victims they put few mechanisms in place to address legacy issues honestly and comprehensively.
Victims campaign groups have managed to keep the Troubles on the agenda but only by constant agitation and protracted litigation that, despite their best efforts has never included more than a small fraction of the families affected by more than 3,500 deaths and the more than 45,000 injured.
The price of having to address the problems through the confrontational arena of the courts has not only included the retraumatising of victims and survivors but society at large as it perpetuates division and makes reconciliation for all of us increasingly difficult.
The British government’s new independent commission for reconciliation and information recovery has also met with criticism and is, we believe, overly legalistic in its approach.
The Truth Recovery Process has been advocating a process based on mediation and counselling models with conditional amnesties as an option where former combatants are willing to come forward with information. It requires them in return to meet strict criteria and would of course require the agreement of those victims and survivors affected by their testimony.
We had several people willing to participate in such a process when we established our group in 2018/9 but only a handful are still alive from the earliest, bloodiest years. Once they go all we will be left with, as Mick Clifford points out is the “legacy” bequeathed by the British government and Sinn Féin.
Hopefully the appointment of Jim O’Callaghan as the minister for justice and Simon Harris as Tánaiste and minister for foreign affairs will see them take up the long avoided challenge we confront on this side of the Border, as well as with their Northern and British counterparts.
Among the atrocities witnessed, during a working life exposed to a number of the world’s conflicted areas, was the curse of ethnic cleansing and attempted ethnic cleansing.
This criminality took various forms, such as direct removal by deportation, by coercion through murder and rape and by, what I perceived as “homeland obliteration”, the destruction and removal of a people’s physical vestiges and indigenous heritages, through the destruction of monuments, cemeteries, houses of worship and sacred places, etc.
This past week we have seen US president Donald Trump add to ethnic cleansing methodology in his proposals to turn Gaza into a “Riviera of the Middle East”.
The civilised world must understand and not be duped into thinking that Trump’s intentions are anything other than a cynically camouflaged attempt at ethnic cleansing, deviously asserted and just as depraved as any other means.
The price of a postage stamp is rising almost 18% to €1.65. This is a huge increase for businesses sending out what can be hundreds, if not thousands, of letters annually and the general public.
The price of a postage stamp has seen very little stability in recent times.
Justification seems to rest on vague global trends and wage increases in An Post. However against that: An Post has not improved their service and it remains one of the most inefficient postal services in the world.
Many get their post in the afternoon and the system is still centred around the Portlaoise mail centre. Here’s an example.
I had the experience of ordering an item from a Kerry warehouse, and with tracking, could see the item travel up to Portlaoise and back down to Cork before it was delivered.
Imagine all the trucks, vans, and lorries crossing the Cork/Kerry boundary every hour.
An Post contributes to their own rising costs by their antiquated system and six figure salary executive pay, just like RTÉ and the money they waste.
