Community Boards pleased with Council's efforts to restrict legal highs
Our draft policy regulating where psychoactive products can be sold on the Coromandel met with approval at Community
Board meetings last week.
Though we can't legally ban sales of psychoactive substances (some of the ingredients used in different drugs including
legal highs and party pills), we have proactively drafted a policy to guide the Ministry of Health's Licensing Authority
on the appropriate location of retail premises when the it begins issuing licenses to retailers later this year.
Our draft policy is available for public consultation and Community Boards delegated members to provide submissions for each Board area.
Make a submission on our proposed policy
Submissions opened on Monday 9 February 2015 and close on Monday 9 March 2015.
Public meetings
To help you make an informed decision on your personal submission to our policy (we encourage you to submit) our staff
members have been available at public meetings so you can get the chance to talk to them personally about these issues
and our draft policy.
The last public meeting is being held in Thames tonight from 5:30 at the High School.
(The other meetings were held last week in Whitianga and Whangamata.)
Did you know...
... we propose to restrict potential retail locations to Whangamata, Whitianga and Thames because they have higher
levels of pedestrian traffic and a more regular police presence than smaller towns like Coromandel Town, Tairua and
Pauanui.
... retailers selling approved psychoactive products (legal highs) are only allowed to advertise within their shop with
nothing visible from the outside. Those ads are only allowed to say what the product's price and ingredients are and
will be monitored by the Ministry of Health.
...before retailers are allowed to set up shop to sell approved psychoactive products (legal highs) they must pass a
'fit and proper person test' undertaken by the Ministry of Health, as part of the approval process.
...liquor outlets, dairies, grocery stores, supermarkets, petrol stations and mobile outlets will not be allowed to sell
psychoactive substances.
...at this stage, the Ministry of Health's Licensing Authority has not received any applications for product approval.
The approval process testing process mirrors the test used for medicines and only products that pass this test may be
sold. The manufacturer of the product needs to prove to the Ministry of Health's Licensing Authority that the product
has a low risk of harm - something which was not in place when products such as "Kronic" (a legal high available for
sale in 2013) was for sale.
ends