State granted Supreme Court appeal in Stanislav Bederev drug-law case

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The Supreme Court granted the State leave to appeal on 28 October 2015 in constitutional proceedings involving Stanislav Bederev. The panel comprised Denham C.J., MacMenamin J. and Charleton J.

The State sought to appeal a Court of Appeal judgment delivered on 10 March 2015. That court had declared section 2(2) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 and the 2011 Controlled Drugs Declaration Order, S.I. No. 551/2011, repugnant to Article 15.2.1 of the Constitution and therefore invalid.

Stanislav Bederev was charged on 26 April 2012 with offences under sections 3, 15 and 27 of the Act concerning possession and possession with intention to sell controlled substances. On 8 October 2012, the charge sheets were amended, changing the substance specified from mephedrone to methylmethcathinone.

The 2011 order classified methylmethcathinone as a controlled substance. Before the order commenced, it had been legally available, usually sold in head shops.

Bederev sought a declaration that section 2(2) was unconstitutional or, alternatively, that the order was unconstitutional, together with an injunction restraining prosecution in accordance with those declarations. The High Court dismissed his application before he appealed. The Court of Appeal held that the legislation left policy judgments about which dangerous or harmful drugs should be controlled to the Government rather than the Oireachtas.