LEGALISING cannabis for recreational use may be the next major debate on the liberal agenda in Ireland.

Privately, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has been testing the waters within his close circle on how it might go down with voters.

4 Taoiseach Leo Varadkar reckons legalising cannabis could be the next major debate in Ireland Credit: Alamy

4 People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny has been campaigning for legalising cannabis for a long time

There is fear of a backlash among the conservative support base of the party in the regions, but it could play well in Dublin, where the party is hoping to prevent the renaissance of Fianna Fail in the next election.

Fine Gael won huge political capital from championing the equal marriage and abortion referendums.

The beneficial winds of the Repeal campaign have long gone however and the party is hoping to get a new bounce for liberalising the divorce system in May’s referendum.

The proposed change, to cut divorce initiation time from four to two years, is not quite capturing the national mood in the same way.

Varadkar reckons legalising cannabis could be the next major wave of social change he could surf into his first General Election as leader.

It would also neatly mimic the agenda of his friend and idol, Justin Trudeau.

The Canadian PM’s brand has collapsed in a corporate sleaze row, but his legalisation of weed last year was a popular move among young voters.

The Taoiseach loathes being portrayed as a privileged out-of-touch elite and this could be just the ticket for him to reinstate his image as a modern, trendy, right-on leader.

THE DRUG IS USED TO TREAT PATIENTS WITH MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

Cannabis is back on the agenda this week after it emerged that the Department of Health had finally located a supplier of medicinal cannabis for HSE patients.

It follows a long campaign by People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny.

This week marks the first time that a licence was granted to import the drug to Ireland. The product will come from a supplier in Denmark.

It’s used to treat patients with multiple sclerosis, those suffering the ill-effects of chemotherapy and patients with severe epilepsy.

Last June, the Taoiseach said an expert group in the Department of Health was considering laws decriminalising recreational cannabis in other countries and how they might work in Ireland.

This was in response to Trudeau’s plans for Canada.

Portugal decriminalised all drugs in small amounts for personal use in 2001 and legalised medicinal cannabis last year.

Varadkar said: “We’re conscious that Portugal has had some success in moving it from a criminal justice matter to a health and addiction issue . . . cannabis has been decriminalised in every state on the west coast of the United States and the sky hasn’t fallen in, so it’s something that’s under consideration.”

Legalising cannabis would not require a referendum and, even as a mere election promise, could strike a chord with the same young voters who backed equal marriage and Repeal.

It is the most commonly used illegal drug in Ireland.

VARADKAR TOLD HOT PRESS HE SMOKED IT IN COLLEGE

Around a quarter of all adults say they have tried it at least once. Varadkar is among them, having told Hot Press in 2010 he smoked it in college.

The number of people who disapprove of the recreational use of cannabis is still high at 66 per cent, but it has been falling in recent studies carried out by the National Drugs Strategy.

However, cracking down on the activities of criminal gangs would form a key element of any campaign to legalise the drug.

Crime linked to gangs is on the rise. Murder, kidnapping, robbery, extortion and weapons offences have all increased in the past two years.

Cannabis is gangland’s best-selling product and legalising it, taxing it and controlling it would wipe out a large part of their revenue.

Politics will most likely decide where the debate goes.

Opponents point to the normalising of damaging drug use, so it’s important to highlight how legalising cannabis doesn’t make it safe, merely safer.

Weed that is sourced and used responsibly would be little different to the consumption of alcohol.

In fact, the alcohol trade has its eye on potential legal cannabis as it would hit their market hardest.

HISTORY HAS SHOWN VARADKAR TO BE A RELUCTANT LIBERAL HERO

Whiskey tycoon John Teeling recently said he expects it could be “the next big thing” and “it’s coming” for certain.

Politically it might do no harm to ­Varadkar to float the idea rather than lead the crusade personally.

Recent history has shown him to be a reluctant liberal hero, having taken his time to publicly support the liberalisation of abortion in Ireland up to 12 weeks.

He knows that the more time passes, the more he loses his shine as a modern, diverse and youthful leader.

Young workers are worst affected by the housing crisis and after eight years in Cabinet, Varadkar is increasingly attached personally to the issue and other crises that have flared up during Fine Gael’s era in power.

Leo needs a legacy-sized issue or campaign to attach himself to. He had high hopes for Project 2040, but it has collapsed into the hole where the Children’s Hospital is being built.

His recovery message failed in the 2016 campaign and the economy is threatened by Brexit.

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He could do worse than start off a debate about legalising cannabis in Ireland.

Every time somebody is shot by a gang in Dublin, it’s a blood-letting that is much more closely connected to the lighting of a joint than many weed smokers care to admit.

The war on drugs has failed. It’s time for a new approach.

Leo's Diary I AM your number one fanboy, Leo, Teesh of Ireland and massive ledgebag. I’m a bit like Jason Donovan, only I’ve aged better, lol. OK, this might sound a bit creepathon 2000, but I know you’re staying in the Merrion. It’s the hotel that’s a posher Shelbourne. The Merrion is more proddy — their regulars tend to own a lot of horses. The Shelbourne set are more likely to wear them. Anyway, if you look outside your hotel window, that is if you can actually see over the windowsill from your vantage point, you can see my office! It’s the one with the gym and the guy in the tank top pumping guns next to a framed Time mag cover with his gorge face on it. Me!!! I can “pop” (lmao!) over to you and personally welcome you to Ireland, though when I say “personally” I really intend to insta/Tweet/hashtag the sh*te out of the opportunity publicly. I think it would be a really great honour… for you, to meet Ireland’s most openly handsome leader ever. I am just dying to get my pic taken next to you. Cos you’re my idol Kylie! OK, tbh I’m not that big a fan (I love Trudeau more). I mean, last year I even pretended I was a Big Tom fan fgs! I’ll do anything for a few turf muncher votes, lol. It’s just that when I get photographed next to tiny people, it makes me look seven feet tall. Such as Macron — he’s so small, he could literally walk between my legs like I’m a human Arc de Triomphe. Anyway, let me know soonest! Btw pls destroy this letter and all copies. Imagine if anyone found out I wrote a begging letter on official headed paper to meet an ex-Neighbours pop starlet! I’d be like soooo scarleh! Lololololol

ZUCK VISIT

IF you wanted to know how serious Mark Zuckerberg was about his call for more online regulation, 48 hours later he visited Ireland, home of low-reg tech firms.

The Facebook boss even managed to touch down in Dublin while the Data Protection Commissioner was out of town.

4 Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg Credit: Afp or licensors

He had offered to meet Helen Dixon and expressed regret that she was not in the country at the same time.

Of course, he could’ve met a deputy, but that would be an insult to our overlord’s stature.

As if to reinforce how nation states are inferior to Facebook, TDs had to cross the road from Government buildings to meet him in the Merrion Hotel, rather than Zuck lowering himself to visit parliament.

The three TDs are Irish members of the International Committee on Fake News — a global group of parliament members considering how to police social media.

4 Data Protection Commissioner Helen Dixon Credit: Collins Photo Agency

Zuckerberg wrote in a Washington Post column that lawmakers worldwide needed to take a more active role in tackling harmful content.

This is rich coming from Facebook, a firm that has mercilessly lobbied the Irish Government for softer laws to protect its huge profits.

The giant continues to make money from “dark” content and still pummels cash through Ireland to protect it from tax.

In 2017, it paid just €30million in tax on revenue of €12billion here.

After criticism it pledged to do better but instead, in 2018, it paid €38million on revenue of €18billion.