People openly smoking weed on the streets of Dublin ‘have no respect’ for their fellow citizens, according to Today FM presenter Shelly Gray.

The presenter told Newstalk Breakfast this morning that the constant smell of weed in the city has gotten “significantly worse this year alone”.

She said she hates to “be the person who comes on national radio to complain” - but people need to be called out.

“It’s an omnipresent odour of weed,” she said. 

“It was just on Sunday that I really noticed how bad it has gotten – I strolled down Grafton Street to get some bits. 

“The smell of weed – it was just everywhere. 

“I came out of Holland and Barrett – the health shop – and right in front of me there were three lads having a great time watching the busker just openly smoking joints and just blowing it straight into my face.” 

Shelly thought this incident might be a “once-off” - until she walked down Clarendon Street and saw another person “openly smoked a joint”. 

Weed in Dublin

She said only a few years ago, you might smell weed “down a little lane or something” - but now it practically pervades across Dublin. 

“It was kind of hidden, but now people just don't care,” she said. “Like they just have no respect for the law, but also no respect, more importantly, for fellow citizens and even tourists as well.” 

Cannabis remains illegal in Ireland for recreational purposes, while medicinal cannabis requires case-by-case approval from the Minister for Health. 

Hand holding a blunt of weed. Image: David R. Frazier Photolibrary, Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo

Shelly said if weed was ever to be legalised in Dublin, it could follow the example of other countries that have legalised the drug to prevent the ever-present smell. 

“I was in Mexico City there maybe two or three years ago, and it is legal to carry cannabis, a small amount of it, but you can't smoke, smoke it in public,” she said. 

“But they do have these zones, I think, the six or seven, like big parks in Mexico City, where you can actually go with your mates, smoke your joints, and it's kind of contained. 

“I didn't notice a smell of weed anywhere else in the city.” 

In October, the Citizens’ Assembly on Drug Use recommended the Government decriminalise cannabis and start a “health-led" rehabilitation process for those caught using drugs.