Last week French customs seized 3,560 packs of THC sweets on their way from the US to the Netherlands, most of them copying the look of a well-known gummy brand. In Ireland, a joint Health and Justice working group on synthetic and semi-synthetic cannabinoids was announced on 28 August 2026. But there is no published Irish count of how often cannabis sweets, jellies or vapes turn up in seizures. So we went through every Revenue press release and every drug-related Garda press release published from January 2023 to October 2026 and counted them.
In short
- Cannabis edibles or cannabis vapes were named in 32 seizure operations announced by Gardaí or Revenue between January 2023 and October 2026: 8 in 2023, 7 in 2024, 10 in 2025 and 7 so far in 2026. That is about 1 in 25 of the roughly 800 cannabis seizure releases in the period.
- The number of cases has not risen much. Their size and setting have. In July 2026 a joint operation searched five business premises and two homes in four counties and seized cannabis jellies, cannabis oil vapes and HHC/THC "reefer" cigarettes valued at about €2 million. On 14 October Gardaí seized more than €3 million of "illegal vapes and cannabis-based products" from a group supplying them nationwide.
- Revenue values seized edibles at about €1,000 a kilo. In all nine releases that give both a weight and a value, the implied rate is €917 to €1,015 a kilo. Herbal cannabis was valued at €20,000 a kilo until August 2026 and is €14,000 now. On those rates, the 170 kg of edibles Revenue seized in one week in April 2025 (€170,000) carried the same value as 8.5 kg of herb.
- Vapes appear in 9 of the 32 operations, 7 of them since 2025. The semi-synthetic cannabinoids HHC or HHCP are named in 3, all from August 2024 on.
What we counted
We counted a seizure operation if a Garda or Revenue press release published between 1 January 2023 and 31 October 2026 named cannabis or THC edibles (jellies, gummies, sweets, chocolate, "edibles") or cannabis or THC vapes, oil vapes or cannabinoid vape liquid among the items seized. Joint operations reported by both agencies, and follow-up releases about the same seizure, count once. Releases about nicotine vapes, or that do not say what was in the vapes, are not counted. Every case is in the CSV with the exact words from the release and a link.
| Year | Operations naming cannabis edibles or vapes | Of which vapes named | Cannabis seizure releases (approx.)* |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 8 | 1 | 204 |
| 2024 | 7 | 1 | 216 |
| 2025 | 10 | 4 | 206 |
| 2026 (to 31 Oct) | 7 | 3 | 174 |
| Total | 32 | 9 | 800 |
* Our count of Revenue releases and drug-related Garda releases that report a seizure of cannabis in any form. Press releases are not a complete record of seizures: they cover the cases the agencies chose to announce.
From homes and parcels to business premises
Until 2025, almost every case was a search of a home, a car or a parcel. Cannabis jellies typically appeared in a list alongside herb, cocaine or MDMA, often with one combined value. Revenue's cases were mostly parcels at mail centres.
That changed in 2025. In May 2025 the Kerry Drugs Unit searched commercial premises in Tralee, Listowel, Killarney and Killorgin and seized "cannabis edibles/vapes" with psychoactive substances and cannabis valued at €150,000. In May 2026 a search in Edenderry found cannabis-infused jellies and chocolate and THC and HHC vapes. In July 2026 a joint Garda and Revenue operation searched five business premises and two homes in Castlebar, Longford, Drogheda and Carlow, seizing cannabis-infused jellies, cannabis oil vapes and "reefer" cigarettes containing HHC and THC worth about €2 million. A Garda statement that week described "cannabis oil infused vapes and jellies aimed at our young people".
On 14 October 2026 Gardaí searched properties in Longford, Mayo, Roscommon, Wexford and Carlow and seized more than €3 million of "illegal vapes and cannabis-based products" from a group they say supplied them "throughout the country". That release does not say whether the vapes contained cannabis, so it is not in our count of 32.
Why a kilo of cannabis sweets is "worth" €1,000
The value Gardaí and Revenue put on a kilo of herbal cannabis was €20,000 until August 2026 and has been €14,000 since. Revenue's weekly round-ups now list edibles separately with their own weight and value, and the rate is about €1 a gram every time.
| Release | Edibles seized | Value given | Implied € per kg* |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Apr 2025 | 55 kg | over €55,800 | 1,015 |
| 15 Apr 2025 | almost 60 kg | €55,000 | 917+ |
| 22 Apr 2025 | 170 kg | over €170,000 | 1,000 |
| 29 Apr 2025 | 13.4 kg | over €13,375 | 998 |
| 13 May 2025 | 2.7 kg | over €2,700 | 1,000 |
| 19 Nov 2025 | almost 1.71 kg | over €1,700 | 994+ |
| 9 Dec 2025 | 2.69 kg | over €2,670 | 993 |
| 16 Feb 2026 | 3.3 kg | over €3,300 | 1,000 |
| 2 Mar 2026 | 7 kg | over €7,000 | 1,000 |
* Our calculation: value ÷ weight. "Over" and "almost" in the releases mean the true rate may be slightly different. Source: Revenue press releases (links in the CSV).
Revenue does not say how it values edibles. A sweet that weighs a few grams contains far less cannabis than a few grams of herb, so a lower rate per kilo would be expected. The effect on the headlines is large, though. A week's 170 kg of edibles produced a smaller headline value than a single 10 kg bag of herb would have. Weight-based totals for "cannabis seized" that mix herb and edibles would also be misleading. Butane honey oil, a cannabis concentrate, is valued at about €20,000 a kilo, the same as herb was.
Gardaí value jellies and vapes in euro without giving weights or unit counts, so their rate cannot be worked out. The one earlier Revenue case with a unit count, in Athy in April 2023, valued 272 packets of edible jellies at €13,600, or €50 a packet.
Semi-synthetic cannabinoids
Three operations name HHC or HHCP, semi-synthetic cannabinoids that are sold in vapes and sweets: Donegal in August 2024 (66 vapes and 2 bottles of oil containing suspected THC, HHC and HHCP, after a member of the public fell ill), Edenderry in May 2026 and the July 2026 joint operation. On 28 August 2026 the Ministers for Justice and for Public Health announced a joint working group "to address the availability and use of synthetic and semi-synthetic cannabinoids", according to a Dáil answer on 7 September 2026. Revenue also lists "synthetic cannabinoids" as a separate line in some round-ups. Those are not counted here unless the release also names cannabis edibles or vapes.
What is not published
- We could not find a published yearly count of cannabis edibles or vapes seized, by number, weight or value, from either agency. The figures above come only from the cases they chose to announce.
- We could not find Forensic Science Ireland test results for seized edibles and vapes by product type (how many contained THC, HHC or synthetic cannabinoids).
- We could not find how Revenue sets the value of edibles.
Limits
Press releases are a sample, not a census. Our Garda search covered releases whose titles mention drugs, cannabis, seizures, searches or values (1,233 of the 7,449 Garda releases for 2023 to 2026 listed on the Garda website). A release with an unrelated title that mentions edibles in passing could be missed. Several cases give one combined value for all drugs found, so the value of the edibles or vapes on their own is not known. "Suspected" substances are subject to analysis by Forensic Science Ireland.
Method and data
We downloaded all 605 Revenue press releases published in 2023 to 2026, and the 1,233 Garda press releases from the same period whose titles mention drugs, cannabis, seizures or values, from their public websites on 2 November 2026. We searched the text for edible, jelly, gummy, sweet, chocolate, vape and related words, then read every match. Joint and follow-up releases about one seizure are counted once. Download all 32 cases with the exact wording and source links: thc-edibles-vapes-ireland-seizures-2023-2026.csv.
Spotted an error or a case we missed? Email briancusack88@gmail.com and we will correct it and note the change here.
Sources
- Revenue press releases 2023–2026 and Garda press releases 2023–2026: one link per case in the CSV; Revenue index: revenue.ie; Garda index: garda.ie
- Revenue, joint operation drug seizure, 10 Jul 2026: revenue.ie
- An Garda Síochána, GNDOCB operations 10–12 July 2026 (statement on vapes and jellies): garda.ie
- An Garda Síochána, Operation Tara: €3 million of illegal vapes and cannabis-based products, 16 Oct 2026: garda.ie
- Dáil Éireann, written answers 2388–2390 and 2410 [61971/26–61974/26], 7 Sep 2026 (working group on synthetic and semi-synthetic cannabinoids), via HRB National Drugs Library: drugsandalcohol.ie
- DutchNews.nl, French customs seize thousands of THC sweets bound for NL, 30 Oct 2026: dutchnews.nl
- cannabidiol.ie, Cannabis seizure values in Ireland: €20k to €14k a kilo (herbal cannabis and resin rates): cannabidiol.ie
Free to reuse with credit to cannabidiol.ie and a link to this page.
Related data: Cannabis seizure values in Ireland: €20k to €14k a kilo · Drug possession vs supply in Ireland: what the data shows