TOUGHER PILL STANCE URGED

The Kaikoura District Council is pushing the Government to take a
tougher stance on the availability of legal highs in New Zealand.

The council's social services committee has sent an open letter to the
Minister of Health, local MP Colin King and the media after community
opposition to the sale of a hallucinogenic smokable substance Salvia
Divinorium at Betty's Liquorstore.

The store pulled the higher strengths of the drug off its shelves, but
has not undertaken to completely withdraw Salvia as it was still
unclassified and legal to sell.

Nigel Kerr, who manages the trust which runs Betty's, said the store
was not ordering any more Salvia dnd it had "pretty much" sold out of
BZP-based party pills.

He said Salvia had been selling in Betty's outlets in Queenstown and
Christchurch for two or three years and Kaikoura was the only store at
which there had been any opposition. The legal status of Salvia was a
ministry of health problem, he said.

The call comes as a recent study conducted by Massey University shows
in less than three years party pills have become one of New Zealand's
most widely used drugs. The data, made public at the Cutting Edge
Addiction Conference in Auckland last week, showed the use of
BZP-based pills was nearly level with cannabis use in 2006.

Mayor Kevin Heays said the social services committee's open letter
would support the Government's banning of BZP-based pills and ask that
it take the ban further afield to also ban substances like Salvia
which have come on the market to fill the party pill void. All
representatives at the meeting agreed further action should be taken.

"We need to go to the core of the problem rather than skirting around
it," said councillor Barbara Woods. An information evening at the end
of the month will help set the community straight on the dangers and
availability of drugs.

National MP for Otago, Jacqui Dean has expressed shock at the
situation in Kaikoura. She said it was unfair to expect communities to
police the sale of drugs like Salvia Divinorum while the Government
sat back and watched.

"The unrestricted availability of Salvia Divinorum has communities
worried, but associate Health Minister Jim Anderton doesn't seem to
care."

Mrs Dean said the Government should not be leaving it up to members of
the public to police the sale of drugs like this and that legislation
should be put in place to protect communities.

"Salvia Divinorum is a hallucinogenic drug, which has been banned in
Australia, and yet here in New Zealand it continues to be sold freely.

* The Alcohol and Drug Awareness Campaign will be held at the Memorial
Hall on November 28. Constable Russell Smith, of Blenheim Police, will
talk about P, party pills, datura and cactus juice. The evening starts
at 5.30pm and run until 8pm and the entire community will have the
chance to ask questions.