Tauranga City Council has unanimously voted to start developing a psychoactive substances policy.
The move was made during a City Vision Committee meeting and came after an impassioned plea from drug and alcohol counsellors who told elected members children as young as 12 were smoking synthetic cannabis.
Bay of Plenty District Health Board's youth, alcohol and other drugs (CAMHS) spokesman David Gilmour had speaking rights at the meeting today.
It was originally expected that councillors were going to delay the decision until September this year when New Zealand wide regulation kicked in.
During the same meeting, it was discussed how the Ministry of Health refused to grant a licence to a suburban synthetic cannabis retailer operating from his Gate Pa home.
