'Ming' Flanagan to bring cannabis legalisation bill before the Dail

Reports today suggest that Independent TD Luke 'Ming' Flanagan is getting ready to bring a cannabis decriminalisation bill to the Dáil this April. But we wouldn't get too high and mighty just yet...

The Roscommon TD Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan looks set to bring a Private Members’ Bill before the Oireachtas next April, which aims to legalise the sale of cannabis for recreational use. The move comes only weeks after US states Washington and Colorado made the drug legal for recreational use.

"I have been campaigning for years for the legalisation of cannabis and I am preparing a Private Members’ Bill that I will be putting before the Dáil in April of next year," he said.

"I wouldn’t be naive in thinking I will get a lot of support in the Dáil but it would certainly show some of them up for the hypocrites they are. I’m a legislator and I have a mandate.

"There is this preconception that it is bad for you but the fact is, people are smoking it and the Government is losing a massive amount of money by not regulating it and taxing it.”

Now, while Ming doesn’t smoke the drug ‘anymore’, he is still a long-time campaigner for the decriminalisation of weed. That being said it’s not the first time we’ve heard of people trying to make marijuana legal here in Ireland, and it probably won’t be the last.

Would you welcome the legalisation of cannabis for recreational use in Ireland?