3 Kilos of Cannabis herb valued by Gardaí to be worth €60,000 and €9,000 in cash have been seized following the search of a house in Co Cork. A teenager was arrested and detained at Cobh Gardaí station after a house in the Cobh area was searched on Wednesday evening as part of the ongoing “Operation Tara”. The search involved a number of units of the Gardaí including members of the Middleton district drugs unit.

The teenager has since been released without charge and a file is now being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions and investigations are said to be ongoing.

While this is paraded as a success by the Gardaí through the media the reality is this is going to lead to far more devastating consequences for the young man and possibly for his friends and family too.

This young man will still be expected to pay for the cannabis which was taken by the Gardaí and he now has to do so without having the cannabis or the €9000 already made from selling the cannabis. If he is unfortunate enough to owe that money to one of the many ruthless gangs controlling the cannabis market because of prohibition and using young kids to sell their cannabis then most likely over the coming days there will be another knock on the front door of this young mans home but this time it wont be the Gardaí calling instead it will be some masked gangsters coming around to use violence and intimidation to collect the money they are owed.

The young man could be made traffic other drugs in order to work off his debt, or he could be even be coerced into carrying out violent attacks against rival gang members as a way to work off his debt. Should he refuse to entertain these requests by the people he owes the money to then quite possibly this young man could be the next Keane Mulready-Woods with his body parts being found in the wooded areas of Cobh by the locals out for their walk.

The prohibition of Cannabis has yet again failed and will continue to do so until it is repealed. We see here yet again a needless victim of Cannabis prohibition in the form of a teenager who is not only being exploited by organised crime gangs but also by the Gardaí who will use this raid to bump their numbers up and make it look as if they are doing work. When in reality all they are doing is victimising another young person who in most circumstances was already a vulnerable person to begin with.

Regulation of the cannabis industry will not only protect these young and vulnerable people like the teenager in this case but it will do an awful lot to dismantle the organised crime groups and their drug dealing networks. How many more young lives will we allow be ruined in the foolish & illogical pursuit of a society free of cannabis consumers? How long more will we accept our policy makers (TD. Frank Feighan) describing the destruction of a persons life with a criminal record as being part of a health led approach to drug use?

Below is an amazing video put together by “Transform” featuring Neil Woods an ex undercover drug cop who is actively speaking out against the work he did in the past after realising the error of his ways. I would like to think that most cops/Gardaí are like Neil Woods and take up the role because they want to help people and make their communities safe places. Well for those cops if you happen to find yourself here reading this blog and watching this video I hope it plants a seed in you which inspires you to do what you can to change the current failed approach to cannabis use in our society.