Kapiti candidate wants to revoke legal highs rule

K Gurunathan

Mayoral candidate K Gurunathan says one of his first tasks, if elected, would be to "review and revoke the shameful and undemocratic June 2015 decision to designate a 50m stretch along Kapiti Road West for the sale of psychoactive drugs, also called legal highs".

"As part of the review I will invite Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne to come to a public meeting in Paraparaumu to convince us why we should not revoke this decision," his statement said.

"Despite total community opposition against this Government sponsored push for legalised drug-dealing dens, Ross Church and a majority of councillors, including mayoral candidate Gavin Walsh, supported the motion to facilitate the sale of these drugs on this site close to very vulnerable communities.

"I challenge candidates standing for council to publicly acknowledge that, if elected to office, they would support a move to revoke that undemocratic decision.

"For Ross Church and the current councillors standing for re-election who voted to support the sale of these drugs I am prepared to accept that they had made that decision in good faith and I am prepared to given them good reasons to change their minds."

He said a We Say No petition, that he organised was signed by 2500 people, and a separate We Say No petition was signed by 60 directly affected businesses along Kapiti Road West.

It was also opposed by the Paraparaumu Raumati Community Board.

"Ross Church and these councillors pressed on despite being fully informed that Kapiti Road West was close to, a community corrections centre, a proposed primary school, the Living Without Violence Trust, training centre for troubled youth, an at-risk youth rehab centre, two training and education centres, four retirement villages.

"They were also reminded that the site was close to a residential area described by a KCDC expert, Mary-Joan Rivers, as ' ... one of the highest deprivation areas in the Kapiti Coast and Wellington region'.

"In making this decision, Ross Church and majority of councillors ignored personal appeals by four young people from a training centre for troubled youth, who spoke about the impact of these drugs on family and friends.

"Section 14 of the Local Government Act 2002 states that councils should be democratically accountable.

"The decision to allow the sale of drugs on this site or anywhere in Kapiti against total community opposition flies in the face of that principle."