Ireland just accidentally legalised ecstasy, ketamine and magic mushrooms

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For the next 24 hours, a host of Class A drugs are legal (or else in a legal quandary) in Ireland due to an accidental loophole in drug laws.

The Dil will sit tonight to pass emergency legislation after the 1977 Misuse of Drugs Act was found unconstitutional by the Irish Court of Appeal this morning, making the drugs it prohibits (technically) legal.

The bill will be rushed through but comes with a provision that states it can only take effect on the day after its signature, placing Ireland in a very grey area with regards to the legality of drugs including ecstasy, ketamine and magic mushrooms until midnight on Thursday.

In what it deemed a "constitutional issue of far-reaching importance", the three-judge Court of Appeal unanimously declared a regulation making the possession of methylethcathinone (known as 4-Mec or Snow Blow) illegal now invalid, as the 1977 Act was being added to without consultation of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament).

The Department of Health issued an explanatory memorandum saying that as a result of the judgement, "all substances controlled by means of Government Orders made under section 2(2) cease to be controlled with immediate effect, and their possession ceases to be an offence. These include ecstasy, benzodiazepines and new psychoactive substances, so-called headshop drugs".

Ecstasy refers to MDMA, while benzodiazepines include diazepam or 'Valium'.

However, according to The Journal, the act has also been used to outlaw the possession of ketamine, magic mushrooms and other drugs.