One cold winter’s night in Galway in 1996, eight Drug Squad officers raided the home of Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan. That they didn’t kick the door in may have been due to the fact that the rented apartment was the (unregistered) property of then-Fianna Fail senator Frank Fahey.

However, they aggressively ripped through all of Flanagan’s possessions, destroying many of them in the process, and left his then girlfriend in tears. “That night it became crystal clear to me that something had to be done about the Irish cannabis laws,” Flanagan recalls. “I was not actually using cannabis at the time. I had stopped smoking it for a couple of years, but I still had eight members of the Garda Siochána come in on top of me and, for the first time ever, I saw the good cop/bad cop routine in operation. Very confusing if you’re not used to dealing with the Guards. “They left my girlfriend at the time crying her eyes out. Separated me from my girlfriend and her friend, left them shaking in fear. When they left the house, their attitude was, ‘Go and ring somebody and see what you can do about I thought to myself, ‘Well, you know what? There’s nobody to ring so I’ll ring myself; I’ll try to do something about it.” Fast forward 17 years and 41-year-old Flanagan – now an Independent TD for Roscommon-South Leitrim welcomes Hot Press into his office, buried deep in the bowels of Leinster House.
It’s the Dail’s first day back after the summer recess and there are angry public protests outside. He and his small team of advisors are putting the finishing touches to the draft of the Cannabis Regulation Bill 2013. The proposed legislation will be debated in the Dail in the coming months, and will call on the Irish government to reform the cannabis laws, to develop a commercial cannabis industry in Ireland, and to also develop cannabis research facilities in medical, horticultural, biochemical and the food industries. The Bill is currently almost 40 pages in length. Although Flanagan is happy to let this writer leaf through it, he’s at pains to point out that it’s still a draft. “Basically, there’s a load of balls in the air on this,” he says. “The substantial part of the Bill has been put together. We’re still dealing with certain things in relation to transportation licenses, and details on the number of plants that you would be allowed to home cultivate, and stuff like that.
We’re trying to nail them down at the moment, and we’re hoping to have it finished soon.” Flanagan maintains that it will be the first time such a Bill has ever been brought before a European parliament. “There hasn’t been a bill on the legalisation of cannabis put before any of the European parliaments, as far as I know, definitely not in Britain and most definitely not in Ireland. So while a lot of people will say to me, ‘Sure this is not going to pass’, it serves more than one purpose. It is obviously to try to get it passed and to try to get cannabis legalised. But, just as importantly, to hopefully get a sensible, adult, grown-up debate, with all the elected legislators in Ireland looking at the cannabis issue for the first time ever in a nonhysterical way.” Does he imagine that they will?
“I won’t be holding my breath,” he admits, with a shrug. “But it does give an opportunity to put it into our main debating chamber, where the rules and the regulation of this country is decided. It puts it out there, and it gives me and other people who want to see cannabis legalised an idea as to what the opposition arguments are – because the arguments that we have heard so far don’t really stand up.” Given that a number of prominent TDs have previously admitted youthful cannabis use in interviews (usually in Hot Press), Flanagan says he’ll be watching how these individuals vote on the Bill with great interest.
“I do expect certain people to be in the Dail when the Bill is being debated, who have in the past stated that they have used cannabis. People like Leo Varadkar and Ruairi Quinn. I will be watching with great curiosity as to whether they believe they should have a criminal record or not for doing that. “I will also be watching with great curiosity
as to what way Barry Cowen will be voting, because I am curious as to whether Barry believes his brother, the former Taoiseach [Brian Cowen], should have a criminal record for using cannabis. I’m also curious as to whether he ever passed the joint to him or not. “And there are a couple of people in the Dail who have admitted to me that they have engaged in smoking cannabis during their time as a TD,” he continues.
“They told me in confidence; I’m not going to hang them out to dry, as it is their own business as to whether they come forward or not. But I’ll be watching them very closely on that day to see what way they vote. Emmet Stagg, I’ll be watching very closely to see how he votes because he has a history in the Dail – in the last Dail in opposition – of standing up and talking in favour of the legalisation of cannabis.” Although Flanagan still occasionally smokes cannabis himself, he claims to not do it in this jurisdiction. When was the last time he smoked a spliff? “Last time was when I was in England about six weeks ago,” he says. “Actually, I tell a lie; it was three weeks ago in Italy. I had a spliff while I was over there!” While his Cannabis Bill is likely to receive support from at least some members of the Dail technical group, he’s not at liberty to name any names. “I have spoken to many members of the technical group,” he confirms.
“I’ll let them come out and say whether they are going to support it or not, but I have been told by several members of the technical group that they will support it. But no one has given me a definite ‘yes’ yet because they don’t have a copy of the Bill.” As we speak, he’s awaiting the arrival of a few legal experts to run through the current draft. “By early next week, we should have a finished copy to send to all of the TDs, and to the media, to have a look at; to analyse, to pull it apart, to come back with questions, etc. Let the debate commence because I obviously don’t have all the answers on this: no individual does.
“But what I have done is, along with the people in my office, we have used the information that came out in the taskforce that was set up as a result of the positive vote on repealing prohibition in Colorado. From that document we have extracted what we believe is a reasonable proposal to put to the people on the legalisation of cannabis.
That would regulate it, from the point of view of its sale and the quality of what people are selling, and to the type of people who would be selling it, and to achieve our goal of making it safer for young people to live in this country, and to make cannabis a safer substance to use, by making it far less likely that there would be adulterants in the substance. Which there is at the moment.” In conjunction with this, Ming, alongside some fellow Irish cannabis activists, is also involved with the establishment of an Irish branch of NORML [National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws].
“I am one of the NORML directors,” he explains. “I am chairperson at the moment. The organisation is being set up using the resources of my office as a TD and my contacts as a result of that. People have been contacting me asking me could they help me on this Legalisation of Cannabis Bill and, as a result, they have got involved in NORML. We are dealing with a lot of paperwork at the moment; the process of setting up a company is nearly completed.
We have had an awful lot of dealings with [Deputy Director] Paul Armentano over in NORML in the United States, and we are also looking at the possibility of getting either Paul or one of the other activists over around the time that the bill is being debated.” There’s also a public protest being planned. “We are planning a protest to coincide with the debate,” he explains. “Obviously we would like to see everyone come up to Dáil Eireann that day – but we are particularly appealing to people with a criminal record for possession of cannabis because, in a sense, they have nothing to lose by coming up to protest. Whereas many people who believe it should be legalised, but who don’t have a criminal record, would understandably would be wary because there is a fear that they could be targeted etc.” Flanagan maintains that the Gardai have already targeted one of his fellow NORML activists, Kevin Higgins (interviewed in our last issue – OT).
“Anybody who suggests it’s overstating it to say that people protesting will be targeted, all they need to do is have a look at Kevin Higgins who works with NORML. Within a week of coming into my offices in Dáil Eireann to work on the setting up of NORML, his house was turned over, his parents’ house was busted,
and he hadn’t ever come to the attention of the Police or the Garda Siochana before, you know? “So anyone who wants to come to the protest when the Bill is being debated, we would be delighted to see them there, but I would make a suggestion that you come in a disguise if you do not already have a criminal record, because you are setting yourself up potentially for a fall – and the consequences are quite extreme when you end up with a criminal record for possession of cannabis in this country.” Flanagan speaks from bitter experience on that particular point. “I have a criminal record on four occasions for possession of cannabis and as a result of that I cannot travel to Australia, the United States of America, or any place that you would need a visa for.
Given that there is such massive unemployment here at the moment, if I didn’t have a job – and I am lucky
enough to have a job – and I wanted to emigrate, that would be a massive imposition on me. “Now if you live in this country and you can’t get a job and you have a criminal record for the possession of cannabis and you can’t emigrate, you are actually in a very difficult position.” In addition to emigration issues, a cannabis conviction can also have serious consequences for an Irish citizen on home turf. “I reluctantly say this, but you are the legal equivalent pretty much of a paedophile if you have a cannabis conviction in Ireland,” he states. “Because if you want to become a teacher, you won’t be allowed because you’re not safe to work with children. If you want to set up a youth club, you won’t be allowed to set up a youth club. If you want to become a doctor, it will restrict your ability to become a doctor. If you want work in a medical devices firm – and this is manual work - and you fill your application form correctly, you will not get that job.
So the consequences of having a criminal record for possession of cannabis are dire in this country.” Given recent developments in North and South America, and calls for an end to the cannabis prohibition by such influential figures as Virgin founder Richard Branson and former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, Flanagan reckons that the timing of his Cannabis Bill is good. “Until now, it was all hypothetical, you know?” he muses. “But we will have very soon solid outcomes from Uruguay, solid outcomes from California and Washington, so I would say it is a fertile environment to be doing this in. “Five years ago if you had asked me the question do I think cannabis will ever be legalised, I would have said no; I actually didn’t think it was ever going to happen. Fifteen years ago, when I started out on this road, I would have naively at the time said, ‘Yeah, it’s going to be legalised man, anytime soon’. Well, I would now be back to thinking that it’s going to happen.” As Flanagan sees it, any TD who votes against his Cannabis Bill may ultimately live to be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.
“I think that, whatever happens, it will eventually be legalised in Ireland,” he states. “So whatever TDs who were in the Dail on that night will look back on it with similar shame as the politicians who were in the Dail in the ‘60s and the ‘70 and the ‘80s, and who never said ‘boo’ about the fact that you couldn’t go out and get laid without using contraception, or who never said ‘boo’ about the fact that books about breastfeeding and contraception were banned in this country. Will they in the future be thinking, ‘My god, I’m just as bad as that conservative lot who ran this country into a hole!’ “That’s what I’m trying to get into their heads: if they do vote against this Bill, in the future they will realise how wrong they are. I’m not saying I’m right on everything, or even close to it, but on this one I think the penny has dropped. The public has copped on that the cannabis prohibition is a joke, and now it’s up to the TDs to follow suit.” Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan knows the odds are stacked against him, but he’s not sweating. After all, he’s beaten overwhelming odds before. “People should remember that Mulholland’s Bookmakers in Galway had me at a million to one to get into the Dail some years back,” he laughs.
“So it is actually possible.”