Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne has welcomed the news legal highs kingpin Matt Bowden has put his company in liquidation.
Mr Bowden revealed last night that he was broke and owed a substantial amount of money.
Mr Dunne is happy Mr Bowden's multimillion-dollar legal highs company is in liquidation.
"What this confirms is the view we have had for a long time that this industry was drying up," says Mr Dunne. "What there is on the black market at the moment is pretty minimal, and our legislative environment is working well."
He says he was surprised by how quickly Mr Bowden fell.
Mr Bowden, the flamboyant godfather of party pills and legal highs, revealed to 3 News last night he had put his company in liquidation. He owes a substantial amount of money.
He now wants the public to help fund a natural cannabis medicine.
It has been a trying time for the industry since synthetic cannabis was banned. The industry's representative body, Legal Highs New Zealand, says that many licenced shops that used to sell it have shut, and half of the manufacturers have had to move overseas.
Mr Bowden says the past few months have been the most difficult of his life.
"The past year we have not had any money coming in," Mr Bowden says. "I have had to sell my nice car so I can pay my staff, go through to the point of not having enough money to go out for dinner, not being able to buy things that I want to buy for my kids and family, just having enough money to pay the groceries, not being able to afford Sky, things like that. It has been difficult."
But families affected by legal highs have little sympathy. After last night's story, many left messages with 3 News expressing satisfaction that Mr Bowden was now suffering because of the drugs too.
3 News
source: newshub archive
