Tony Keogh of Keoghs crisps gets off Cannabis cultivation charge for 39 plants after paying a €200 donation to charity
The former crisps company executive Tony Keogh (64) who was caught growing 39 cannabis plants on his property in July of 2020 gets a tap on his wrist for his crime.
Tony Keogh and the Cannabis plants found growing on his property last year
According to Tony following Ireland's paltry effort to legalise cannabis for medicinal use he began researching medicinal cannabis production leading to him growing the 39 plants in what he described as a “gardening experiment” to see if he could grow the plants and use them to make a medicinal product.
Tony grew the plants in a glass house which was in full view of the public. This led to a member of the public making a report to local gardai who then came and raided the property and removed the plants. When questioned by gardai Tony made a full admission to being responsible for growing the plants.
The Keoghs crisps company released the following statement
“Unbeknownst to the Keogh business, Tony, who officially retired from the family farm business in 2019, had been researching medicinal cannabis production around the world following the move by the Irish Government to legalise medical cannabis last year, Tony did not reveal his intentions to anybody, nor did he seek legal advice at any stage. Tony had been cultivating the plants in a small area of an unused glasshouse within full view of the public road and as such a member of the public reported the activities to An Garda Síochána”
Some beautiful supporters of Tony Keogh at a recent protest in Dublin Ireland
While the Keoghs crisps company did not get behind the retired executive those of us in the Cannabis Community adopted Tony as our uncle #FreeUncleTony. Signs were even crafted to show support for Tony at recent #CannabisReformIreland protests.
One of many posts on social media using the #FreeUncleTony
Tony entered guilty pleas for the offences of unlawfully possessing cannabis and cultivating cannabis plants without a licence at his address on July 9, 2020. Judge Melanie Greally said this was “an unusual case in that he grew the plants in question out of some degree of curiosity in relation to them and in relation to curiosity concerning the medicinal benefits of cannabis”. The judge said last July that she proposed to impose a sentence of eight months imprisonment, but she would defer the sentence to Monday. She said if certain conditions were met, she would discharge Keogh forthwith from the charges under the provision of Section 100 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006.
Judge Greally said she would require Keogh to enter into a bond to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for the adjourned period and to make a contribution of €200 to the Father Peter McVerry Trust.
On Monday she noted the conditions had been met and discharged Mr Keogh from the indictment.
Such a waste of resources here in Ireland at a time when the public purse is over stretched already due to the pandemic. It currently costs Ireland over €100 Million per year just to enforce the failed prohibition of Cannabis (judges, gardai, solicitors, etc). Then include the potential €2Billion per year tax revenue from the sale of cannabis, is this something Ireland can really afford? ( breakdown of Irish cannabis industry value https://www.reddit.com/r/Crainn/comments/o411x0/the_value_of_the_cannabis_industry_in_ireland/ )
Poster made by the Cannabis Activist Alliance showing the economics of Cannabis in Colorado vs Ireland currently
If we go back to when Luke Flannagan put his bill forward in 2013 to legalsie and regulate the supply of cannabis for adults and patients. The Irish government had a real opportunity to do good for the citizens of this country but they voted it away (111 against the bill, 8 were in favour of it). Since then the cost of continuing with Cannabis prohibition has cost Ireland’s tax payers in excess of €16Billion.
If Ireland had legalised, taxed and regulated the sales of cannabis back in 2013 and put that potential €16billion into building houses we could have built over 65000 homes costing €250,000 each.
We have to ask as taxpayers can we afford to keep the prohibition of Cannabis going? What value do taxpayers get for that money spent? The people being criminalised for cannabis pose no threat to the citizens of this country and the number of patients being brought to court for cannabis charges is getting higher every year. Here are just some of the other cases in Ireland which feature patients being dragged through court for their medicinal use of cannabis
https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/courtandcrime/arid-40282184.html
https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-40317971.html
Don’t forget that you can do your part to help make this change happen by speaking with friends and family about cannabis and why the laws need to be changed. Organise or get involved with groups and campaigns in your local area to help promote the campaign for #CannabisReformIreland . Get involved with groups like Tidy Buds ( https://www.instagram.com/tidy_buds/ ). Contact your local elected representatives to support the campaign to end the prohibition of Cannabis.