By Brian Houlihan

Irish Examiner - September 11th 1964

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In 1925 the Irish Free State participated in the Opium convention which was one of the first times cannabis prohibition was raised on the international stage. As stated during the conferences the Irish delegation didn’t consider narcotics to be an issue at home. In fact this was a repeated mantra throughout the following decades.

In the early days of the Free State concerns over the misuse (or any use) of alcohol were at the fore. Temperance movements were quite prominent during the 1920’s and a ban on drinking on Good Friday was introduced in 1927. There were also attempts by both the State and elements of the IRA to crackdown on poteen makers during this period.

It wasn’t until the early 1960’s that politicians and the media began to raise concerns about drugs. Much of this was based on reports emerging from the UK of counter culture movements and drug use. Nonetheless, some individuals felt drugs would never be an issue in Ireland. But by the end of the decade few could ignore the emerging drug culture.

In April 1964 Raifiu Ojikuto, a 26-year-old Nigerian medical student, was arrested for possession of Purple Hearts (amphetamine tablets) and became the first person in the Irish state arrested on drug charges. Tragically, after failing to appear in court he was found dead. However, his death was not treated as suspicious.

In September 1964 a Scottish male named Stewart McFarlane (21) and a local man named Colin Fay (21) became the first people to appear in court for their drugs charges. McFarlane had been arrested on August 24th while Fay was arrested in early September in connection with the case.

McFarlane was eventually sentenced to six months’ imprisonment for importing 20 packets of Indian hemp and supplying five packets to an unknown person on O’Connell Street. Fay was also sentenced to six months’ imprisonment for the possession of two packets of Indian hemp. Fay was represented by his father who was a solicitor.

Irish Examiner - September 11th 1964

Although the early years were relatively quiet these arrests were the first of many to come. There were just two in 1965, one in 1966, and none in 1967. The quietness of the previous years was gone by 1968 when 24 people were arrested. By 1969 this number had risen to 59 and it rose to 71 people in 1970. The increases can be linked to the establishment of the Garda Drugs Squad in 1967.

Since the 1960’s hundreds of thousands of people have been arrested on drug charges with the vast majority being for personal possession. For example figures show that 186,794 people were arrested for drug offences between 2004 and 2014 alone. Almost 75% (138,032) of these were deemed as ‘possession of drugs for personal use’.

As cannabis is most used illegal drug in Ireland it makes up the majority of these possession offences. Such a conviction can have lasting consequences for those involved. Thus 54 years after the first cannabis arrests, and with nothing but an increase in users and arrests, many believe that reform is long overdue.

While Ireland is steering slowly towards reform for some it can’t come soon enough, especially for people who need it for medical reasons.

Brian Houlihan is the curator of the Dublin Hemp Museum and regularly writes about hemp. Follow him on Twitter at @dubhempmuseum and @houlihanbrian. You can also find us on Facebook.

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