NUI Galway Students’ Union could become the first such student body in Europe to support the legalisation, regulation, cultivation, sale, and possession of cannabis for over 18s, if a referendum to be held next month is passed.
Students will vote on Thursday March 5 with the ‘Yes’ campaign being supported on campus by the Students for Sensible Drug Policy Society, the Misneach Society, the Socialist Society, and the NUIG Sinn Féin Cumann. A Yes vote would mandate the Students’ Union to support the legalisation of cannabis.
In advance of the referendum, MEP Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, who has long supported legalisation, and Garda whistle blower John Wilson, who advocates legalisation as a means of handling its usage, will give a public talk in the O’Flaherty Theatre, on the main concourse, this Friday [February 27] at 7.30pm. The meeting is being hosted by the Students for Sensible Drug Policy Society.
“Any society that claims to value personal liberty should leave adults free to consume cannabis if they so wish,” said Ciarán Maher of SSDP Soc. “By legalising and regulating cannabis we would be taking control of this very profitable industry out of the hands of criminal gangs and into the legitimate economy, creating huge revenue and thousands of jobs in the process.”
