Gardaí reclassify cannabis – as six times more expensive

Ken Foxe

Gardaí with a haul of cannabis resin: now valued at €12 per gram

IT IS a sure-fire way of boosting the Garda performance in the war against drugs.

Gardaí have now reclassified the cost of cannabis at €12 per gram, increasing it by six times from its previous level of just €2 a gram.

The new value means that seizures will appear – in the media and to the public – as being more successful than they have previously been.

Provisional figures obtained by the Sunday Tribune show that gardaí have seized just 85kg of cannabis so far this year. However, the stated value of that haul in figures released through the Department of Justice give a street value of €1.024m.

The figures, which cover just the first quarter of the year, put gardaí well on their way to outdoing last year's €1.8m worth of seized cannabis.

On closer inspection, it emerges that a total of 947kg of cannabis were seized last year. That itself was a slight improvement on 2007 when 774kg, or around €1.5m, worth of cannabis was discovered by gardaí.

The amount of cocaine being seized this year has also shown a marked decline with just 12kg – worth €862,000 – of the drug taken in operations.

That compares to an incredible haul of €117m worth, or 1,681kg, of the drug that was seized in 2008.

Gardaí also seized almost €123m worth of cocaine in 2007 but figures for each of the past two years were given significant boosts by the one-off discoveries of massive drug hauls in west Cork.

Drug hauls for the first three months of this year are well down, with just €10m worth of narcotics found. It means gardaí are on target to seize just €40m worth of drugs this year, down from a high of nearly €200m in 2008.

Seizures of all types of drugs are down, with €5m worth of heroin seized from January to March. Gardaí have also seized 12,118 ecstasy tablets and 139g of the liquid form of MDMA despite their belief that 'E' is regaining popularity amongst casual users.

According to garda figures, €199.63m worth of drugs were seized in Ireland during the course of 2008. Police across the world estimate that just 10% of all narcotics are actually seized, making the country's illicit drugs trade worth at least €2bn.

The Department of Justice said: "An Garda Síochána is satisfied that, in addition to the considerable volume of drugs seized in the last two years and again this year to date, there has been a significant impact on drug-trafficking by the arrest and prosecution of a number of major players involved.

"The activities of a number of crime gangs have been disrupted, resulting in a number of crime groups being dismantled.

May 3, 2009

Comments

#1 Sean commented, on May 4, 2009 at 8:33 p.m.:

When did the Gardai ever have a problem with over estimating the price of cannabis? As an experienced user, I feel I must add the Gardai have almost always valued cannabis at much more than its maximised value. This, in my view, will only add to the problem of prohibition, causing the prison sentence to rise, thus causing the price to rise, thus giving the only criminals in the game to get even more profit, while the victimless smoker gets another blow to his lifestyle.

Prohibition has never and will never work.

#2 Phil commented, on May 5, 2009 at 12:16 a.m.:

I had to read this twice, at first I thought it was a wind up 12E a gram of resin ? Must be some high quality hashish considering you would be paying something similar for grass.

Sean I have to agree with everything you said.

#3 Brian commented, on May 5, 2009 at 9:35 p.m.:

The fact that cannabis is now 6 times more expensive means the gangs will only make 6 more times the money.

Legalising cannabis and having it regulated and taxed by the government is the only way to go.

Cannabis prohibition doesn't work

#4 Jah commented, on May 5, 2009 at 11:11 p.m.:

This article contains misinformation. There is no liquid form of MDMA - it is a crystalline solid.

#5 Concerned commented, on May 8, 2009 at 10:13 p.m.:

Are the gardai going to be reclassifying the price for the amount of cannabis they HAVEN'T seized? Funny how they never speculate as to that enormous figure.

The Drug War has not worked, in 40 years, and it will never work. Cannabis is a plant that people enjoy using recreationally with almost no ill effect, certainly nowhere near as toxic as our culturally sanctioned drugs.

If they really want to take it out of the hands of the gangs, bring it out of the black market.

#6 Rubensni commented, on May 9, 2009 at 1:42 p.m.:

This is wrong. Last year the gardai were pricing cannabis at €10/g (Irish Times "Eight held over separate drug seizures" 9/8/08 report that 100 kilos of the drug seized at Dublin airport with a street price of €10 million. The Gardaí have merely increased the price by €2.00.
Of course, the Garda figures are still way off. The most recent (and reliable) international figures are found in the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime's 2008 World Drug Report. In the report cannabis is priced on average in Ireland at $6.30/g with a typical price range between $2.50 and $7.50. If anything, owing to the strength of the euro, prices should be falling, not increasing.

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