Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: The twilight state of the Psychoactive Substances Act

BenWilson

Mon, 01 Dec 2014 15:45:46 +1300

I might be wrong, but as far as I know, the legal high industrie wasn’t financially responsible for rehabilitation costs, for people who became addicted to the product.

It was far from perfect. But such changes were at least possible in a framework of legality.

BenWilson

Mon, 01 Dec 2014 09:03:33 +1300

My thinking on this is that the legal high industrie didn’t address the underlying public health proplems any better than the local mongrel mob did.

Not sure about that. People have actually died from bad illegal drugs sourced in that way. Nothing was ever offered as a legal high that…

mildgreens

Mon, 01 Dec 2014 01:02:04 +1300

Cannabis law reform is and remains the core issue for which the failure to resolve the tensions rests on the (respective) Ministers of Health under whose watch and WARRANT all drug policy is exacted. The Expert Advisory Committee (EACD) should have undertaken its responsibility to priotise an evidence based review…

Idiot Savant

Fri, 28 Nov 2014 14:18:31 +1300

And how's it working it? Today's Manawatu Standard headline is Meth use on rise after legal high ban.

What a tremendous public health success.

Russell Brown

Thu, 27 Nov 2014 20:52:30 +1300

After doing a little bit of digging myself I think the bigger concern is that should there be an alternative to animal testing, the amount of research required by importers compared the amount of research by manufacturers is highly alarming, as the manufacturers have their code to follow.

You're saying…

Dale Smith

Thu, 27 Nov 2014 20:40:51 +1300

Very interesting article, although I'll repeat what I said on Twitter and say I feel this isn't quite the shooting gun I'd expect it to be. With Auckland Council having had over 700 submissions as of Monday, before they sent out their press release informing everyone that it's the last…

Richie Hardcore

Thu, 27 Nov 2014 16:16:46 +1300

Thanks for a great article clarifying a poorly communicated policy Russell.

For those not in the know Auckland, and other local councils, are writing their policy on where new Paychoactive Substance stores can be located. This of course assumes producers of products will eventually find a way to test them…

Josh Petyt

Thu, 27 Nov 2014 13:28:12 +1300

If you give New Zealanders an approved, legal substance, they’ll go for it.

This should be the guiding principal of out drug policies.
Keep the sale of unregulated drugs outlawed but give us some good quality legal options and don’t prosecute users of anything that is for personal use. Most…

mildgreens

Thu, 27 Nov 2014 12:56:03 +1300

The obsfucation surrounding drug policy development has a legacy. It has not been an earnest harm minimization strategy , as would be proscribed under the aegis of the National Drug Policy Statement or its founding principles and formulation advice. What was innovative (the Restricted Substances Regulations 2008) was gutted by…

Jackson James Wood

Thu, 27 Nov 2014 10:27:10 +1300

Thanks for the link, Russell. Great story too. I think the thing for me is the massive disconnect between what the law does and what the public thought it would do. The job of communicating what it did kind of fell into a gap for an issue that had attracted…

Russell Brown

Thu, 27 Nov 2014 10:10:09 +1300

Jackson Wood has an explanation of the Wellington draft LAPP and the option he favours.

There's a lot of good general information on what the LAPPs do — clearing up a few misconceptions.

Public Address

Thu, 27 Nov 2014 10:10:08 +1300

Discussion from blog post.