Associate Health Minister Todd McClay has launched a toll-free hotline for the public to report concerns about psychoactive substances in their community, while a local petition to completely ban "legal highs" will also be submitted to Parliament.
Mr McClay said the hotline would lead to legal high shops being closed and individuals being prosecuted where they had contravened the Psychoactive Substances Act.
"I recently received an email from a member of the public who raised concerns about a retailer in Hawera. This information was passed on to the regulator who quickly suspended the retail licence taking legal highs off the shelf. A subsequent investigation has led to this retail licence being cancelled. Without the assistance of this concerned member of the public that retailer might well have continued to break the law."
The hotline enables members of the public to report concerns about individuals, retail outlets and psychoactive substances with a response from police and the Ministry of Health.
Meanwhile, Tukituki MP Craig Foss said he would present a Hawke's Bay petition to the House of Representatives next week, hoping it would be another step closer to "stopping the harm of legal highs".