Customers defend head shops

“It is better buying from a place like this rather than a drug dealer”


Anton McNulty

TheCosmic Closet Head Shop located at the corner Charles Street and Richard Street is painted green, red and yellow, the colours associated with the rastafari movement. It stands out and people going into it stand out. Despite the protests the day before trade is brisk on Thursday evening with up to a dozen customers going into the job over a 40 minute period.
Customers calling to Cosmic Closet varied from young lads in their twenties driving modified cars to housewives doing their shopping in people carriers. A number of people going in were in respectable attire like they had just clocked off work and not the stereotypical person you would expect to go into Head Shops.
While people in Castlebar have no problem going into Head Shops, talking about them is a different matter eventhough they were availing of the service. It is clear that they are very much a taboo subject and even those who did stop to speak to The Mayo News did not wish to give their name.
One woman who was in her late thirties had travelled to Castlebar from Connemara to do some shopping stopped off to buy some herbal smokes. She said she could not understand the furore surrounding Head Shops and said tackling alcohol abuse should be a bigger concern.
“Basically the way I look at it people will buy drugs and it is better buying from a place like this rather than a drug dealer. Here you know what it is but you have no idea what a drug dealer has mixed in and what damage it can do. At least here, the people in the shop will inform you of the product and you can also find out about stuff on the internet.  
“I would mainly herbal smoke but I have tried herbal pills and cocaine. Yes you can be affected by them but you can be affected by drink which does worse damage. More teenagers get pregnant out of drink than from a few smokes,” she said.
Another man who said he has lived all his life in Castlebar said he was in favour of Head Shops and felt the products were no more dangerous than alcohol.
“The people in these shops are selling a product in the same way as a publican sells drink. All they can do is ask for ID and it is up to parents to know what their children are up to. I don’t do pills, I never have but I smoke and there is nothing in them that will stop you from doing your work in the morning.”

OPINION “The issue of drugs, legal and illegal, in society is a difficult and murky one.”