Wanganui District Council will press on with developing a policy around the sale of legal highs despite Government plans to bring in a blanket ban on the synthetic drugs next week.
The Government announced at the weekend it will give urgency to pass legislation to remove the remaining 42 psychoactive substances (legal highs) which had been given temporary approval while the testing regime was developed.
Still to be decided is what sort of regime will be used to test the drugs and it could be late next year before that is sorted out. The delay is partly due to concern Prime Minister John Key has expressed about the level of animal testing required.
Once the regime is in place, manufacturers could have to wait up to 18 months for proof of "low-risk".
But the imminent ban does not mean legal highs will be forever unavailable for public sale and for that reason Wanganui council will continue to work on its local approved product policy (LAPP).