The High Court has stayed one of three criminal prosecutions against Re-Leaf owner Mark Jenkins while his challenge to Ireland’s treatment of low-THC hemp proceeds. The order covers only the prosecution arising from a February 2020 seizure; the judge did not find enough evidence to grant stays in the two other cases.
The judgment, delivered by Ms Justice Emily Egan on 18 May 2022, followed an interlocutory application in judicial review proceedings. Jenkins argues that Ireland’s restrictions on hemp and related products breach EU law and constitutional rights. The court considered the EU law case only for the February seizure when deciding this application. It did not determine the final legality of the legislation or the criminal charges.
Gardaí searched a Re-Leaf business premises on 11 February 2020 and seized eight bags and a white container of green plant material. The judgment records that independent testing found the material’s THC content did not exceed 0.2%. Jenkins said the products had been ordered from a Welsh company working with a Swiss producer, and that the hemp had been grown in Switzerland.
Justice Egan found there was sufficient uncontested evidence at this stage that the seized material was raw true hemp as harvested and an agricultural product. She also found an arguable case that its import complied with the relevant EU rules. For the interim application, she considered it reasonable to infer from the low THC level that the hemp lacked psychotropic or other harmful effects. Those were provisional assessments, not final findings after trial.
The judge said the Irish restrictions could hinder trade in such hemp, and the State had provided no evidence or argument at the hearing to justify the restrictions on public health grounds. She said she had serious doubts about their compatibility with EU law and that a criminal trial could cause Jenkins serious and irreparable harm if he later succeeded in his challenge. She also noted that similar High Court proceedings had led to stays of related prosecutions.
The other seizures took place in May and July 2020. The judgment says they involved a wider range of material, potentially including CBD products and cannabis oil, and that evidence of their THC content was not before the court. Justice Egan therefore made no equivalent finding for those prosecutions and did not stay them. The judgment said the Director of Public Prosecutions might take a pragmatic view to avoid the cases becoming separated.
Jenkins’s constitutional arguments were not substantively addressed. The judge said they had been scarcely argued and that it was unnecessary to comment on them after granting relief on the EU law basis for the February prosecution.