Prime Minister John Key says decriminalising cannabis will not prevent people from smoking synthetic highs.
Stores selling legal highs over Easter Weekend did a roaring trade, with queues forming outside stores on Friday night, waiting for the end of Good Friday trading restrictions at midnight.
But earlier this month thousands of people protested against the products, which have been blamed for antisocial behaviour and health problems in users – many who say they would rather smoke the real thing, but it's illegal.
Respondents to a Campbell Live poll last week overwhelmingly voted in favour of decriminalisation of cannabis, but appearing on Firstline this morning, Mr Key said that would send the wrong message.
"The Government making it legal I think we accept is a step we could take. It would be a very, very difficult and challenging step to take, it wouldn't actually eradicate society of these products," says Mr Key.
"In the end, drugs of any sort are a road to nowhere in my view, and we want to encourage New Zealanders not to use them."
Banning the 41 legal high offerings still on the shelves is harder than it sounds, says Mr Key.
"If you ban Kronic, for instance, they just change the chemical formula. Some of those chemicals are used in products that New Zealanders wouldn't want to see banned."
From 2015 all psychoactive products will need to be proved safe before they can be sold, and the Government hopes the cost of getting products tested will be so high, none will.
"The balance of proof, if you like, will change," says Mr Key.
"Instead of saying, 'here's a product, is it actually harmful?' they'll actually have to prove it's not harmful before you can get it on the shelves."
Already the Government has cut the number of outlets selling synthetic cannabis from a few thousand to a few hundred, and the number of products available from a few hundred to 41.
Research on synthetic cannabis has suggested its adverse health effects, when compared to the natural product, are related to the strength of the cannabinoids and the lack of cannabidiol, an anti-psychotic found in natural cannabis.
3 News
source: newshub archive
