By Steven Voser

HAVE A MEDICAL CANNABIS CHRISTMAS

Ho, ho, ho what have Irish medical cannabis users gotten for Christmas? The surprise headline of 2016 is Ireland is set to legalise cannabis for medical use.

On December 1st, 2016 the Dail (Irish Parliament) passed the “Cannabis for Medicinal Use Regulation Bill 2016” utterly unopposed, without even having a vote!

Of course, any kind of legalisation is a step in the right direction, but when the politicians are not arguing our gut tells us something is wrong.

Is this the first ripple effect to cross the Atlantic from the tidal wave of marijuana legalisation in the US? Or has the Trump election win frightened out of every Irish politician to the point that they dare not oppose the Irish electorate this Xmas?

A recent Irish Times/IPSOS opinion poll clearly evidences the Irish public’s emphatic support for legal medical cannabis with 81% of respondents in favour of legalising medicinal cannabis. With a general election just around the corner in 2017 the political class in Ireland are jittery.

Politicians of all stripes prefer to hitch their wagons to winners and the “War on Drugs” is looking like a real loser these days. Let’s take a closer look at precisely what kind of medical cannabis legalisation is on the horizon for the Irish and the potential for expansion to achieve legal recreational use in Ireland.

MEDICAL CANNABIS IRELAND LEGALISATION

MAKE IRELAND GREEN AGAIN

Ireland has always been governed by right-wingers ever since it achieved independence from the British. Either Fine Gael or Finna Fail, the two dominant right-wing parties have been in power without interruption for almost a century.

Naturally successive Irish governments have been coalitions as a minority party is always required to make up the numbers to secure a majority in the parliament.

However once in office all left-wing leanings and/or radical ideas are swiftly abandoned in deference to the agenda of whichever of the big two they have chosen to bed down with.

It’s a real rarity for legislation to be swiftly endorsed and ratified by politicians in Ireland unless it involves bailing out a Bank. That didn’t really work out for Ireland, but it wasn’t anyone’s fault you understand. It was you know “systemic failures” and stuff.

The truth is the Apollo space program actually cost less than the Irish Bank bailout so political decision making must be scrutinised extra carefully in this context.

Plus, the current Irish government is feeling the heat from the Apple Tax revelations and at the same time bracing itself for the blowback from Brexit. The Irish people simply “won’t get fooled again”.

RISE OF THE POPULIST & TOP DOWN IGNORANCE

Populist politics is the order of the day and Ireland is no exception. The suffering of one too many Irish toddlers has generated a lot of bad press for the Irish Minister for Health Simon Harris and with a basket case of a department to run he needs a quick win.

The Cannabis for Medicinal Use Regulation Bill 2016 itself is the brainchild of Independent TD’s (members of parliament but not members of a political party) Gino Kenny and Brid Smith.

They are among the few Irish public representatives not beholden to anyone other than the people so unsurprisingly they tend to come up with ideas focused on how to better serve the public interest.

In its present format, the bill is a great framework for how a 100% indigenous Irish medical cannabis industry could come into being. Sure, it’s not perfect but it’s a great stepping stone.

The Bill specifies the creation of a multi-purpose Irish cannabis institute to conduct scientific research, and a regulation authority to run the industry.

IRELAND CULTIVATION MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Both are great vehicles to ensure the legislation delivers high-quality medical cannabis to patients, and a doctor’s prescription keeps access controlled by the medical profession. Even the most conservative Irish commentators have struggled to find fault with the bill.

Although both the Health Minister Simon Harris and the Taoiseach (Prime Minister and former primary school teacher) Enda Kenny have made it clear they do not support the legalisation of recreational cannabis use and worry that the bill will open the door to the normalisation of cannabis use in Ireland.

They need not fret because the Irish people already consider recreational cannabis use normal. In fact, some of the best weed in Europe is cultivated in spare rooms and sheds from Cork in the south to Donegal in the north.

Plus medical cannabis products are already widely available online and the high-street, from the Hemp Company on Capel street in Dublin city centre.

Although the Irish government can make amendments and probably will gut the bill to limit access as much as possible they cannot defeat it.

The Irish people are sure to punish any politician at the ballot box should they stand in the way of Irish sick people being treated with the best medicine available.

A GREEN REVOLUTION

The Irish public is Awake! And they have plenty of bottled up anger at the system. The current caretaker Fine Gael led government is on its last legs and if the worsening “Housing Crisis” (the gap between income and the cost of a home in Ireland is Huge! Big League Huge!) doesn’t bring it down, any number of imminent maladies will. So a change is somewhat inevitable in 2017.

Perhaps the best amendment to the bill would be provisions which allow for medical cannabis patients to become self-sufficient in medicine and cultivate their own medical marijuana.

The Irish model must serve the Irish medical cannabis patient and in its present condition, it’s probably best the ailing department of Health is kept out of it.

Ensuring a monopoly for a “Big Pharma” giant is not spawned can only be achieved by incentivising a competitive market with low cost of entry. Cultivation licences must not become exclusive to the big players; otherwise, medical cannabis issued by GP will be as over-priced as existing schemes.

It’s a fine line between medication and commodity these days, permitting and even teaching home cultivation is the most cost effective model.

Ireland has opened the door for legal cannabis and regardless of the motivations of the propaganda peddlers aka politicians this is the greatest opportunity the Irish cannabis legalisation movement has ever had.

Legal medical cannabis is going to succeed in Ireland, and the Irish cannabis institute will without a doubt discover recreational cannabis use is wonderful and definitely should not be illegal.

The green shoots of recovery that emerge in Ireland’s future will be legal cannabis plants; it’s no longer a question of if anymore it’s a definite when.

2016 has been an amazing year for marijuana legalisation across the globe and it’s only fitting the emerald isle crossed the line just in time to make the list.

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Privacy Policy - Royal Queen Seeds

To ensure a safe online environment and guarantee adequate data protection, we strictly comply with all legal requirements. In this privacy statement, we provide information about how and for what purpose data is collected, safety measures, storage periods and contact details.


COMPANY NAME: SNORKEL SPAIN, SL (hereinafter ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS)

C/ Vilar d'Abdelà, 5 (nave 1) CP: 08170 de Montornès del Vallès

+34 937 379 846

support@royalqueenseeds.com


The present Privacy Policy sets out the terms on which we will treat personal data at ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS; this includes any personal data collected through our website https://www.royalqueenseeds.com/ as well as any other data we process in the course of our business activities.

ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS collects the following personal data for the purposes listed below:

SECTION 1 – PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT

1.1 Account purchases

Account purchases can only be made if you are in possession of a personal account. When you create an account or purchase something from our shop, as part of the buying and selling process we collect the following personal information that you provide to us:

This information is required for delivery. In addition, when you browse our shop, we automatically receive the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your computer. Based on this information, we can optimise your online experience and at the same time protect our online environment.

Purpose of data collection

We collect and store account-related data for the following purposes:

(a) to carry out obligations arising from any contracts between you and us, and to provide you with information, products and services that you may request from us;

(b) to set up, manage and communicate with you about your account and your orders;

(c) to conduct market research and analysis;

(d) to confirm your age and identity, and to detect and prevent fraud.

1.2 Newsletters

With your explicit permission, we may send you newsletters about our shop, new products and other updates. We send newsletters based on your explicit consent. In the event that you purchase a product, and in accordance with current regulations, we may send you commercial communications in accordance with the legitimate interest of our company, always about products or services similar to those you have purchased or contracted. In any case, you may exercise your right of opposition through the channels announced in this Privacy Policy. The following information is collected in relation to the newsletter:

We do not need to know the sex of the person in order to send the newsletter (data minimisation: by law we must ask for data that is strictly necessary to provide the service, and in this case knowing the sex is not necessary to send the newsletter).

Purpose of data collection

The data collected is used to:

(a) personalise our emails, including your name and gender;

(b) provide gender-specific content.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by using the link provided in the newsletter or the contact information provided in section 2.

1.3 Customer service and contact form

In order to provide appropriate support, our customer service employees have access to information related to the account. Consequently, their support will be highly effective and friendly. The data provided in our contact form is used by our CRM provider, SuperOffice. We will only use your details to respond to your message.

SECTION 2 – LEGITIMATE INTEREST

If you have purchased any of our products, please note that we may process your personal data for promotional purposes, based on Royal Queen Seeds' legitimate interest only to offer you products or services from our company and about products or services similar to those you have purchased. You may exercise your right to opt out of future messages by the means set out in this Privacy Policy or through any notification you receive.

2.1 How do you withdraw consent?

If you change your mind, you can withdraw your consent for us to contact you for the purpose of collecting, using, or disclosing your data at any time by reaching out to us at: support@royalqueenseeds.com.

SECTION 3 – DISCLOSURE

We may disclose your personal information if we are required to do so by law or if you breach our Terms of Service.

SECTION 4 – HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR DATA?

At Royal Queen Seeds, we will not retain your data for longer than is necessary for the purposes described in this Policy. Different retention periods apply for different types of data; however, the longest period we will normally hold any personal data is 10 years.

4.1 Account information

Data relating to the account remains relevant for as long as the consumer is in possession of an account. Therefore, the data remains documented for as long as the account exists. When our customers delete an account, the associated data will be deleted within a reasonable period of time. Requests regarding the inspection or correction of stored personal data or the deletion of an account can be sent to support@royalqueenseeds.com.

4.2 Newsletters

In the event that you give us your consent to inform you about our products or services, we will keep your data until you express your wish not to receive any further communications from us. However, we regularly (every month) carry out a relevance check. Registered customers (and their personal information) will be deleted whenever customers do not reply to our request. In addition, our newsletter mailing has an opt-out feature. Consumers can withdraw their consent by using this opt-out feature.

SECTION 5 – COOKIES

Cookies are small information files that notify your computer of previous interactions with our website. These cookies are stored on your hard drive, not on our website. Essentially, when you use our website, your computer displays its cookies to us, informing our site that you have visited before. This allows our website to function more quickly and remember aspects related to your previous visits (such as your username), making your experience more convenient. At Royal Queen Seeds, we use two types of cookies: functional and analytical.

5.1 Functional Cookies

Functional cookies are used to enhance your online experience. Among other things, these cookies track what is added to your shopping cart. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

5.2 Analytical Cookies

Analytical cookies are used for research and market analysis. The data collected with these analytical cookies is anonymous, making it unusable for third parties. The use of these cookies does not require prior authorization.

SECTION 5 – THIRD-PARTY SERVICES

Third-party services are required to conduct transactions and provide our services. In general, the third-party providers we use will only collect, use and disclose your information to the extent necessary to enable them to perform the services they provide to us.

However, certain third-party service providers, such as payment gateways and other payment transaction processors, have their own privacy policies regarding the information we must provide to them for your transactions.

We encourage you to read the privacy policies of these providers so that you can understand how these providers will handle your personal information.

In particular, certain suppliers may be located or have facilities located in a different jurisdiction than yours or ours. Therefore, if you choose to proceed with a transaction involving the services of a third party, your information may be subject to the laws of the jurisdiction in which that service provider or its facilities are located.

Once you leave our website or are redirected to a third-party website or application, you are no longer governed by this Privacy Policy or the Terms of Service of our website.

Web analytics service (anonymous data)

On this website we have integrated an element of a web analytics service (with anonymisation functionality). Web analytics can be defined as the gathering, processing and analysis of data about the behaviour of visitors to websites. An analytics service collects, among other things, data about which website a person came from (the so-called referrer), which sub-pages they visited or how often and for how long they visited a sub-page. Web analytics is mainly used for website optimisation and for a cost–benefit analysis of internet advertising.

Courier service

To complete deliveries we use a courier service. This courier service carries out the delivery between our company and the consumer's home. To complete these logistics, the company requires access to the consumer's name and address information.

Mailing service

Royal Queen Seeds uses a third-party mail service provider to send its newsletter. This provider has access to limited account information related to opt-in consent (e.g. email address).

Marketing services

Royal Queen Seeds has the support of a company that specialises in marketing and communication activities. Their access to personal information is very limited and mostly anonymous.

Payment services

At Royal Queen Seeds we use external payment services to handle our transactions (e.g. credit card payments).

SECTION 6 – SECURITY

To protect your personal information, we take reasonable precautions and follow industry standard best practices to ensure that it is not inappropriately lost, misused, accessed, disclosed, altered or destroyed.

If you provide us with your credit card information, the information is encrypted using secure socket layer technology (SSL) and stored using AES-256 encryption. Although no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure, we follow all PCI-DSS requirements and implement additional industry standards that are commonly accepted. Information related to the account is protected with a hashing method. This method transforms the information into a generated hash. As a result, confidential information is protected and invisible, even to us. In addition, our databases are exceptionally protected against unauthorised access. For example, access to the database is only possible and permitted via approved IP addresses (e.g. from Royal Queen Seeds headquarters). Other attempts and addresses are rejected at all times.

Furthermore, data is anonymised as much as possible, so it cannot be directly linked to a specific consumer. With this data, however, we may be able to carry out market research and analysis. In addition, the third parties concerned (e.g. mailing service) are examined prior to our collaboration, comply with the GDPR from the EU and receive a processing agreement. Within Royal Queen Seeds, employees are assigned different access permissions. Specific permission provides access only to information that is strictly required to perform a task. Digital security measures are subject to change and must meet high requirements to ensure the safety of online customers. That is why, at Royal Queen Seeds, we appoint a security officer. Regular verification and improvement of security measures (where necessary) are part of the role.

SECTION 7 – CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time, so please check back regularly. Changes and clarifications will be effective immediately upon being published on the Website. If we make substantial changes to this policy, we will notify you here that it has been updated so you will know what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, we use and/or disclose it.

SECTION 8 – YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO: