One of Ireland’s newest and most flamboyant parliamentarians is giving up smoking cannabis so he can keep his seat in the Dail (the country’s parliament).
Independent lawmaker Luke “Ming” Flanagan revealed this week he is kicking the habit after rank and file police called for him to be prosecuted for breaking the law.
With his dark pointy beard and ponytail, Flanagan plays on his resemblance to the tyrant Ming in the Buck Rogers space adventures.
The new deputy lawmaker for Roscommon-South Leitrim had campaigned for cannabis to be legalized before his election to the Dail last month. He said he took the decision to quit smoking the drug to protect his wife and children from further media scrutiny, as well as pressure from the police.
“I’ve looked at my options. I can continue to smoke and face a six-month prison sentence and lose my seat in the Dail, or I can stop,” Flanagan said. “It is not an ideal situation, but my wife and children are the most important people on the planet to me and I don’t want my kids to witness the garda [police] calling to the house. The garda have to do their job. However, I will still campaign for legalization of cannabis.”
Flanagan was elected mayor of Roscommon last year. He first stood in a general election as a protest candidate against his then-landlord, Fianna Fail lawmaker Frank Fahey, in 1997 in Galway West. He polled 5,000 votes in the 1999 European elections in Connacht-Ulster.
He has publicly criticized the influence of the drinks lobby and highlighted the rights of turf-cutters affected by the EU-led ban on harvesting in 32 raised bogs. He is also committed to social justice issues and local government reform.
Meanwhile, a fellow Independent lawmaker and equally colorful Dail member backed “Ming’s” call for cannabis to be legalized. Mick Wallace, lawmaker for Wexford, said alcohol caused far more damage in Ireland than hash.
However, Flanagan’s statement that he cultivated cannabis was “a direct challenge to the law,” said the Garda Review magazine.
“We now have an elected public representative of the legislative system who is publicly committed to the legalization of cannabis and has regularly admitted in the media that he cultivates a supply for personal use. It is a direct challenge to the law and as such to the law enforcers,” the publication said. “We cannot have a situation where the law is ignored, either through appeasement or political expediency, otherwise our system of justice will become a mockery.”
Ten years ago, Flanagan sent 500 cannabis joints to Irish politicians as part of his campaign to legalize the drug.
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