Editorial: High evils on sellers' conscience

Six or so years back I was queuing at a Hastings hardware store, known then as Benchmark.

Immediately ahead of me, a chap with haunting, bloodshot eyes placed four large tubes of gib glue on the counter. A keen employee looked at him for a few seconds, then refused to make the sale.

Jilted but unfazed he flipped his hoodie and trudged from the shop, ostensibly to seek his fix elsewhere.

Back then I was surprised at the store's snub. It was, after all, a legal high.

But such is the disparity in society between those whose conscience overrides bottom lines - and those who earn a generous crust perpetuating misery.

Last weekend's robbery of Hastings' legal high stockist, Adult Selections, was a disturbing development in the synthetic-cannabis nightmare.

Police are still hunting two offenders who fled with cash and a stash of psychoactive substances after threatening an employee with a screwdriver.

One could argue of course that booze does more damage in this country - of which I have little doubt. But the difference is the ability to use one in moderation; a few puffs after work seems an unlikely prospect.

And while central Government has a role to play, I tire of those waiting for legislation before expecting a change to the status quo - and tire even more of those who leverage off this excuse to sell it.

Legality remains an overused ruse. These merchants know the damage it's doing, see the damage in their clients' eyes yet continue to ply their trade. They're in it as deep as those who manufacture the product.

The proprietor of another Hastings stockist, Discretions, had the temerity to tell a recent council meeting he was doing his utmost not to sell it to minors. How noble. Please. To twist a politician's riposte, does he think we all washed down the Tukituki River on a cabbage boat? Their livelihood is considered unconscionable to any able-minded individual in this community.

It's time these retailers, who clip the ticket of addiction, were called out for what they are.

They'd do well to remember the standard you walk past is the standard you accept. I'm assuming, and I hope, Adult Selections' stance was hastily reviewed when the standard turned up with a screwdriver.

While this act of violence was unacceptable, one can't help but query the business' complicity in the strands of a malaise that go hand-in-glove with the industry. Following the robbery, a staff member at Adult Selections told one of our reporters that this paper's coverage of the ongoing issue was endangering their staff. Drivel. It underscores the store's purposeful ignorance - even after being hoist by its own petard.