Legal highs on the Coromandel

Psychoactive products (used to make legal highs) are going to be allowed for sale nationwide. If you're interested in where they can and cannot be sold in the Coromandel, you now have an opportunity to work with us on this issue.

Psychoactive substances are some of the ingredients used in different drugs that affect the mind. You might know such drugs as:

party pills
herbal highs
legal highs
synthetic cannabis
legal recreational drugs.
We have drafted a policy that we hope may solve the problem.

The policy ensures that the Ministry of Health's Licensing Authority has the best possible information on the appropriate location of retail premises when issuing licences to retailers who can sell approved psychoactive products later this year.

It is important to note that our Council will not be issuing those licenses, but rather, the Ministry of Health's Licensing Authority will be doing that. (You can find out what the Licensing Authority does at http://psychoactives.health.govt.nz/ )

Our proposed policy restricts these retailers to certain areas within our main towns, and makes sure they don't get too close to places like schools, places of worship and community facilities, as well as to other premises that have a licence to sell psychoactive products.

Our job is to make sure that the Licensing Authority has the best possible information on the location of retail premises when issuing licences, so let us know if you think we've done this when you submit.

Public meetings

To help you make an informed decision, our staff will be available at public meetings we've set up so you can get the chance to talk to them personally about these changes.

The public meetings are being held in:

Whitianga on Tuesday 17th 5:30pm at the Town Hall
Whangamata Thursday 19th 5:30pm at the Town Hall
Thames Monday 23rd 5:30pm at the High School
Make a submission on our proposed policy

Click here to read and submit on the policy.

Submissions are open from 3:30pm Monday 9 Februrary 2015 until 4:00pm Monday 9 March 2015.

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