Misuse of Drugs Act 1977

• Enactment Date: 16 May 1977
• Act Number: 12

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Number 12 of 1977

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MISUSE OF DRUGS ACT 1977

REVISED

Updated to 16 May 2022

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This Revised Act is an administrative consolidation of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977. It is prepared by the Law Reform Commission in accordance with its function under the Law Reform Commission Act 1975 (3/1975) to keep the law under review and to undertake revision and consolidation of statute law.

All Acts up to and including the Merchant Shipping (Investigation of Marine Casualties) (Amendment) Act 2022 (8/2022), enacted 16 May 2022, and all statutory instruments up to and including the Misuse of Drugs (Prescription and Control of Supply of Cannabis for Medical Use) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 (S.I. No. 237 of 2022), made 16 May 2022, were considered in the preparation of this Revised Act.

Disclaimer: While every care has been taken in the preparation of this Revised Act, the Law Reform Commission can assume no responsibility for and give no guarantees, undertakings or warranties concerning the accuracy, completeness or up to date nature of the information provided and does not accept any liability whatsoever arising from any errors or omissions. Please notify any errors, omissions and comments by email to

revisedacts@lawreform.ie.

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Number 12 of 1977

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MISUSE OF DRUGS ACT 1977

REVISED

Updated to 16 May 2022

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Introduction

This Revised Act presents the text of the Act as it has been amended since enactment, and preserves the format in which it was passed.

Related legislation

Health Acts 1947 to 2020: this Act is one of a group of Acts included in this collective citation, to be construed together as one (Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Consequential Provisions) Act 2020 (23/2020), s. 1(2)). The Acts in this group are:

• Health Act 1947 (28/1947)

• Health Act 1953 (26/1953) (citation only)

• Health (Fluoridation of Water Supplies) Act 1960 (46/1960) (citation only)

• Health Act 1970 (1/1970)

• Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 (12/1977), s. 36 and s. 42 in so far as it amends the Health Acts 1947 to 1970 (citation only)

• Health (Family Planning) Act 1979 (20/1979)

• Health (Amendment) Act 1986 (10/1986)

• Health (Amendment) Act 1987 (3/1987)

• Health (Nursing Homes) Act 1990 (23/1990)

• Health (Amendment) Act 1991 (15/1991), other than s. 8

• Health (Amendment) Act 1994 (11/1994)

• Health (Amendment) Act 1996 (15/1996)

• Health (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1996 (23/1996)

• Health (Amendment) (No. 3) Act 1996 (32/1996), other than ss. 21 and 22

• Health (Provision of Information) Act 1997 (9/1997)

• Health (Eastern Regional Health Authority) Act 1999 (13/1999)

• Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2001 (14/2001), except in so far as it relates to the Tobacco (Health Promotion and Protection) Act 1988 (citation only)

• Health Act 2004 (42/2004)

• Health (Amendment) Act 2005 (3/2005), in so far as it amends the Health Acts 1947 to 2004

• Irish Medicines Board (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2006 (3/2006), Part 5

• Health (Repayment Scheme) Act 2006 (17/2006)

• Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal (Amendment) Act 2006 (22/2006), except s. 6

• Health (Nursing Homes) (Amendment) Act 2007 (1/2007)

• Health Act 2007 (23/2007)

• Medical Practitioners Act 2007 (25/2007), s. 57(9) (citation only)

• Health Act 2008 (21/2008)

• Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 (25/2009), s. 64

• Health (Amendment) Act 2010 (15/2010) (citation only)

• Health (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 2010 (20/2010)

• Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011 (19/2011), ss. 35 and 36 (citation only)

• Health (Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) Act 2013 (10/2013)

• Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013 (14/2013), s. 30 (citation only)

• Health Service Executive (Governance) Act 2013 (23/2013)

• Health (Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) (No. 2) Act 2013 (42/2013) (citation only)

• Local Government Reform Act (1/2014), the amendment to the Health (Fluoridation of Water Supplies) Act 1960 provided for in section 5 (6) and sch. 2, part 6.

• Health Service Executive (Financial Matters) Act 2014 (17/2014)

• Health (General Practitioner Service) Act 2014 (28/2014)

• Health (General Practitioner Service) Act 2015 (19/2015)

• Health (General Practitioner Service) Act 2018 (13/2018)

• Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Consequential Provisions) Act 2019 (8/2019), Part 2

• Health Service Executive (Governance) Act 2019 (17/2019), other than Part 3

• Health (General Practitioner Service and Alteration of Criteria for Eligibility) Act 2020 (11/2020)

• Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Consequential Provisions) Act 2020 (23/2020), Part 2 (s. 5)

Acts previously included in the group but now repealed are:

• Health Act 1954 (23/1954)

• Health and Mental Treatment Act 1957 (16/1957), s. 1

• Health and Mental Treatment (Amendment) Act 1958 (37/1958), s.1

• Health (Homes For Incapacitated Persons) Act 1964 (8/1964)

• Health and Mental Treatment (Amendment) Act 1966 (2/1966), s. 1

• Health (Mental Services) Act 1981 (17/1981)

• Health (Family Planning) (Amendment) Act 1985 (4/1985)

• Health (Amendment) Act 2004 (19/2004)

Misuse of Drugs Acts 1977 to 2017: this Act is one of a group of Acts included in this collective citation, to be construed together as one (Misuse of Drugs (Supervised Injecting Facilities) Act 2017 (7/2017), s. 13(2)). The Acts in this group are:

• Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 (12/1977)

• Misuse of Drugs Act 1984 (18/1984)

• Criminal Justice Act 1999 (10/1999), Part II

• Irish Medicines Board (Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2006 (3/2006), Part 2

• Criminal Justice Act 2006 (26/2006), ss. 80-85

• Criminal Justice Act 2007 (29/2007), s. 33

• Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) Act 2015 (6/2015)

• Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) Act 2016 (9/2016)

• Misuse of Drugs (Supervised Injecting Facilities) Act 2017 (7/2017)

Pharmacopoeia Acts 1931 and 1977: this Act is one of a group of Acts included in this collective citation, to be construed together as one (Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 (12/1977), s. 43(4)). The Acts in this group are:

• Pharmacopoeia Act 1931 (22/1931)

• Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 (12/1977), ss. 35 and 42 (in so far as s. 42 amends the Pharmacopoeia Act 1931)

Poisons Acts 1961 and 1977: this Act is one of a group of Acts included in this collective citation, to be construed together as one (Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 (12/1977), s. 43(6)). The Acts in this group are:

• Poisons Act 1961 (12/1961)

• Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 (12/1977), s. 33

Pharmacy Acts 1875 to 1977: this Act is one of a group of Acts previously included in this collective citation, to be construed together as one (Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 (12/1977), s. 43(3)). The substantive provision of this Act (s. 32) as well as legislation amended by provisions of this Act included in the collective citation (s. 34) were repealed (29.11.2008) by Pharmacy Act 2007 (20/2007), s. 4 and sch. 4, S.I. No. 487 of 2008.

Annotations

This Revised Act is annotated and includes textual and non-textual amendments, statutory instruments made pursuant to the Act and previous affecting provisions.

An explanation of how to read annotations is available at

www.lawreform.ie/annotations.

Material not updated in this revision

Where other legislation is amended by this Act, those amendments may have been superseded by other amendments in other legislation, or the amended legislation may have been repealed or revoked. This information is not represented in this revision but will be reflected in a revision of the amended legislation if one is available.

Where legislation or a fragment of legislation is referred to in annotations, changes to this legislation or fragment may not be reflected in this revision but will be reflected in a revision of the legislation referred to if one is available.

A list of legislative changes to any Act, and to statutory instruments from 1972, may be found linked from the page of the Act or statutory instrument at

www.irishstatutebook.ie.

Acts which affect or previously affected this revision

• Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2021 (36/2021)

• Parole Act 2019 (28/2019)

• Data Protection Act 2018 (7/2018)

• Misuse of Drugs (Supervised Injecting Facilities) Act 2017 (7/2017)

• Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) Act 2016 (9/2016)

• Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions and Certain Disclosures) Act 2016 (4/2016)

• Misuse Of Drugs (Amendment) Act 2015 (6/2015)

• Criminal Justice (Search Warrants) Act 2012 (33/2012)

• Nurses and Midwives Act 2011 (41/2011)

• Criminal Procedure Act 2010 (27/2010)

• Criminal Justice (Psychoactive Substances) Act 2010 (22/2010)

• Fines Act 2010 (8/2010)

• Criminal Justice Act 2007 (29/2007)

• Medical Practitioners Act 2007 (25/2007)

• Pharmacy Act 2007 (20/2007)

• Criminal Justice Act 2006 (26/2006)

• Irish Medicines Board (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2006 (3/2006)

• Health Act (42/2004)

• Euro Changeover (Amounts) Act 2001 (16/2001)

• Criminal Justice Act 1999 (10/1999)

• Licensing (Combating Drug Abuse) Act 1997 (33/1997)

• Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act 1996 (29/1996)

• Irish Medicines Board Act 1995 (29/1995)

• Criminal Justice Act 1994 (15/1994)

• Customs and Excise (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1988 (10/1988)

• Misuse of Drugs Act 1984 (18/1984)

• Postal and Telecommunications Services Act 1983 (24/1983)

• Transport Act 1950 (12/1950)

All Acts up to and including Merchant Shipping (Investigation of Marine Casualties) (Amendment) Act 2022 (8/2022), enacted 16 May 2022, were considered in the preparation of this revision.

Statutory instruments which affect or previously affected this...