Blame the mayors
A year ago the country was up in arms about the sale of synthetic cannabis in corner stores, dairies, groceries and convenience stores around the country. There were no restrictions on who could purchase these substances, and there was a cumbersome procedure in place which allowed me as Associate Minister of Health to temporarily ban products shown to be harmful.
Since 2011, I had banned just over 50 different products under that regime.
But it was clearly not enough. Every time a product was banned, the chemical combinations were manipulated and a new product emerged, often within days of the first ban being applied. It was a never-ending game of catch-up which no one found satisfactory. It was time to turn the situation on its head to ensure that only those products proven to be low-risk through a testing process, equivalent to that for registering new medicines, could be sold, and even then in restricted circumstances. And so, the Psychoactive Substances Act was conceived.
Since its passage in July last year its impact has been dramatic. The number of outlets selling these drugs has been reduced from around 4000 to just over 150; the number of products being sold has fallen from about 300 to 41, and is likely to continue falling; and sales have been restricted to persons aged 18 and over, with no advertising or promotion permitted.
