Te Puke's synthetic cannabis retailer will have to shift to a new shop inside a small area of the main street if the Western Bay District Council confirms its intention to introduce tight restrictions on where psychoactive substances can be sold.
The council today agreed to a policy that will prohibit the sale of synthetic cannabis in all areas of the Western Bay council's area except the retail hubs of Te Puke and Katikati.
And further restrictions banning the shops from operating within a 100 metre radius of educational facilities, medical centres and libraries and 50 metres of parks and reserves will effectively retain the status quo of one licensed retailer in each town. The final clincher was synthetic cannabis shops cannot be closer from 750 metres from each other.
Katikati's psychoactive substances shop on the corner of State Highway 2 and Hyde St falls outside the proposed area restrictions, unlike the rest of the town's main commercial area.
But because Te Puke's shop on Jellicoe St next to Palmer Court is within 100 metres of a medical centre, it will have to shift to a potentially small section of the main street, a couple of hundred metres from its current location.