Editorial: New synthetic drugs need proper control

Jazz Kerdar, 15, says she was not asked for identification when buying Kronic at Khyber Pass News Agency and was even asked if she wanted a larger packet. Photo / Greg Bowker

A Herald investigation yesterday provided a clear illustration of the pressing need for drug law reform.

On sale in many Auckland dairies, quite openly and legally, are sachets of synthetic cannabis which have not been properly tested and may be more potent than the real thing.

To make matters worse, parents and police told the Herald, the drug is being sold to underage customers.

The point was underlined by a 15-year-old girl who was able to buy the drug at a dairy with no questions asked. It was, she said, as easy as buying icecream.

Clearly there is a need for the law to tackle the issue of synthetic recreational drugs which include party pills as well as the imitation cannabis.

For years the law has being trying to catch up with a rapidly evolving trade in mind-altering substances. Every time one of these drugs is banned, another one bobs up in its place.

The Government is considering a Law Commission recommendation that new recreational drugs should be proven safe before they go on sale. This will be difficult. The country's most common recreational drug, alcohol, might not pass that test. But the effects of alcohol are well known and at least the sale is relatively strictly controlled.

Synthetic drugs do not meet either of those conditions. There are good grounds to enact the Law Commission recommendation that new substances should require approval before they can be sold. These drugs need to be presumed guilty until proven innocent.