Today is a global day of action for groups around the world campaigning for drug law reform.
In New Zealand, advocacy group the Star Trust has released research it says shows that the Psychoactive Substances Act was working, before synthetic high products were pulled from the shelves.
The trust's Grant Hall says they would like a "compassionate" approach to dealing with drug harm, instead of the current "punitive" regime.
"All of the data during the interim period of the Psychoactive Substances Act… there were two things that came out of it that are really interesting," he said on Firstline this morning.
"There was a reduction in crime – we saw a 22.7 percent reduction in cannabis-related crime… quite a significant number."
He says only 14 people contacted the Ministry of Health about addiction problems with synthetic highs, out of 11,000 people using them a day.
"We would say that's a pretty good outcome."
Now Hall says people are turning back to hard drugs like P, and that synthetic highs were only banned because of the upcoming election.
Watch the video for the full interview with Grant Hall.
source: newshub archive
