NO, THIS isn’t a joke title. Nor is it an article by Irish satire masters Waterford Whispers News. This actually happened.
In the same year equal marriage was legalised through popular vote, 2015 was a very progressive year indeed for Ireland—but not always on purpose.
That March, the Irish government accidentally legalised a myriad of drugs such as ketamine, ecstasy and crystal meth—sparking a desperate attempt to rectify the mistake through emergency legislation.
The (absolutely hilarious) mistake happened due to a legal loophole which found the 1977 Misuse of Drugs Act to be unconstitutional, and therefore legalised all the drugs listed as being prohibited in the Act.
Young people celebrate in a Dublin nightclub on 'Yokes Day' (Photo: Sarah Meyler)Despite the government's best efforts to reverse the accidental decision as quickly as possible, the long list of Class A drugs were legal to possess and consume for 24 hours, resulting in what became known in certain circles as “National Yokes Day”— Yoke being a colloquial term for Ecstasy.
Irish clubgoers pull their best "yoke faces" on the night in question (Sarah Meyler)Ireland’s ravers revelled in the 24-hour free-for-all, and Twitter users had a field day, with the hashtag #Yokegate trending on the media site for hours on the day.
Everywhere in the Republic of Ireland, 5:30pm this evening. #YokeGate pic.twitter.com/bhA3sbZ8Ky
— Dave Cronin (@itsDaveCronin) March 10, 2015
Bought some of those legal "yolks" in Tesco earlier. Can't wait to get scrambled. #yokes #YokeTuesday #YokeGate pic.twitter.com/JGUpj1gbRc
— Marcus O'Laoire (@marcusolaoire) March 10, 2015
One Dublin café is capitalising on #YokeGate with this special offer http://t.co/fBIkO9XJ0o pic.twitter.com/vEOOviD6Sg
— DailyEdge (@dailyedge) March 11, 2015
Bizarrely, the accidental legalisation did not extend to cannabis, meaning possession of the infinitely less dangerous drug was still an arrest-able offense.
It’s now four years since the government’s notorious mistake, and was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence—we’re pretty sure the Dáil learned their lesson to always read the small print.
