Last time I got stoned was by accident, I swear . . . I was at a Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in Golden Gate Park, listening to Loudon Wainwright. A vendor in pink frills passed with a tray of chocolate truffles. For $2.50 they looked delicious and couldn’t be spiked, could they?

Alice-in-Wonderland-like, I took a bite and felt okay. And ate more. Big mistake. It’s the notorious no-no with pot “edibles” that happens only to idiots. Unlike swifter-acting “joints,” edibles absorb slowly and erratically. Some time later, I was kisser-down in the grass and a) paralysed, b) paranoid, and c) feeling so silly. I couldn’t locate my head, let alone my phone.

The sale and distribution of drugs in parts of Dublin has dramatically increased on last year.

Gardai in Crumlin, Ballyfermot and Cherry Orchard all recorded huge increases in drug crimes this year.

In total, the South Central district recorded 160 cases of the sale and distribution of drugs in the 12 months up to mid-July this year.

That's up by 54 cases on the same period last year.

Kilmainham and Kevin Street Garda Stations reported the problem increased by a shocking 76pc in their area alone, compared with 2014.

They had 104 detections of the sale and supply of drugs in their districts, compared to just 59 between July 2013 and July 2014.

Another European country is about to begin the journey to cannabis legalization. Aodharn O Riordain,Minister for the National Drugs Strategy has been a breath of fresh air since he arrived in the job. He has been up front and honest with the public over drugs. On Wednesday there was a think tank with local and regional actors within the drug and alcohol field. The general consensus was that decriminalization is a good thing for society. There is no justification for jailing people for growing or using cannabis.

Corporal Damian Flood (39) was caught with €9,814 worth of cannabis herb near Nutgrove in Dublin on March 15 2013. He initially told gardaí he was moving the drugs to pay off a debt of €40,000.

However, the widowed father-of-two later said he brought the the drugs after online research showed him juiced cannabis added to food could act as a pain reliever.

Flood told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that he wanted to ease the suffering of his wife, who was terminally ill with breast cancer. She died some five months later.

Flood of Scribblestown Avenue, Finglas, Dublin pleaded guilty to possessing the drug for sale or supply.

He apologised to the court, saying he was “embarrassed” to be there. “It was a moment of madness,” he said.

In an intelligence led operation targeting the activities of an organised criminal gang, Gardaí stopped a truck and a car at St Margaret's Road in Finglas shortly before 7pm on Saturday night.

One hundred kilograms of Cannabis resin, with a street value of €600,000, and over 40,000 prescription drugs were discovered and seized.

The value of the prescription drugs is hard to determine before testing is carried out.

Two men, in their 30s, were arrested and detained under Section 2 of the Drug Trafficking Act, 1996 at Finglas Garda Station.

The men can be held for up to seven days before charges are made.

International Cannabinoid Research Society’s (or ICRS) recent 25th annual symposium proved to be a great place to share ideas and learn from a wide variety of highly accomplished scientists in the area of cannabinoid research. The 4-day conference was highly diverse, covering everything from novel chemical cannabinoid entities, to quality control methods for cannabis, to non-THC cannabinoids such as CBD (cannabidiol) and CBG (cannabigerol).

DECRIMINALISING THE POSSESSION of drugs for personal use is to be considered by the Oireachtas.

A delegation from the Oireachtas Justice Committee visited Portugal last month where the approach as been in operation for 15 years.

The public’s views are now being sought about whether a similar approach should be considered here.

In 2001, Portugal introduced a system whereby drugs were not legalised but possession of a small quantity did not result in a criminal record.

Instead, possession of illegal drugs is treated in a similar way to a traffic offence and anyone in possession must attend a treatment programme within three days.

Funding for this service is split, with 60% provided by the State and 40% by the National Lottery.

The Irish public is being invited to have a say in what is thought to be the country’s first official examination of the decriminalisation of drugs for personal use.

The Oireachtas Justice Committee is seeking submissions from people and organisations on alternatives to the current model of criminalisation. It comes on the back of a committee trip to Portugal, where a delegation studied its model of decriminalisation of the possession of drugs.

A report published by the Justice Committee on the Portuguese system said the approach “has not resulted in an increase in drug-taking nor has it resulted in Portugal becoming a destination for drug tourists”.

It said the Portuguese government and police had also told them:

Kieran McCrory talks candidly about having three to five years to live. The former painter and decorator from Omagh has stage four brain cancer and doctors have emphasised, “Kieran, this will eventually get you.”

And yet, despite everything – the brain surgery, the subsequent paralysis and dire realisation that he is terminally ill, the 37-year-old is stubbornly upbeat about life. He’s a father and a husband and he has a large group of friends and family who have been, he says, a massive source of support over the past few months.

One thing which is proving to be a real bugbear of Kieran’s however, is the British Government’s attitude to medicinal cannabis.

One of the things the British government failed to do when it wrote up the psychoactive substance bill was check how things had worked out in two other countries which had tried it: Poland and Ireland. Quite possibly that was because officials knew that if they did so – especially in any official capacity – it would show how utterly counterproductive it would be.

As the Reitox Poland report from 2013 shows, the country's number of 'legal high related poisonings' dropped temporarily after the ban, but within three years it was above pre-ban levels.