Editorial: Napier community rallies against drugs

Linda Hall, Assistant Editor, Hawke's Bay Today.

Four years ago this newspaper ran a campaign called "War on legal highs".

There were three retailers whose businesses were booming as they sold synthetic drugs into the community.

However, as has been proven time and time again, this community has a strong backbone. People took to the streets protesting outside the shops, wrote letters and sent texts to the paper all calling for the Government to make it illegal to sell legal highs.

In May 2014 the Psychoactive Substances Amendment Act, passed under urgency, removed all of the psychoactive products on the market which was great news.

However, as with anything made illegal, black markets soon popped up.

The latest is a deadly drug with the street name Zombie. The name in itself tells a story of how absolutely dangerous this drug is, leaving its users in zombie like states.

It is causing much concern in Clive Square in Napier and again the community has rallied.

Yesterday a group called The Clive Square West Community presented a petition to Minister of Police and Napier Labour Member of Parliament MP Stuart Nash, Eastern Police District Commander Superintendent Tania Kura, Napier mayor Bill Dalton and Napier deputy mayor Faye White calling for action to be taken over the "open drug activity in Clive Square West".

Good for them. Taking immediate action is the only way to nip this in the bud before someone dies.

The sad part about this is it is our most vulnerable people who are getting sucked into buying and trying this potentially deadly drug while again dealers reap the benefit as they line their pockets. They have to be stopped.