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).
"There are likely to be approved substances for sale in the future so we need to push on with our policy," mayor Annette Main said.
The Government's surprise U-turn was debated at this week's council meeting.
Councillor Philippa Baker-Hogan, a staunch opponent to the legal highs, said while the Government decision was welcome, it raised other issues such as handling the number of drug users expected to experience withdrawal symptoms.
She promoted two motions, getting support for one but not the other.
The first was to ask the two Wanganui retailers to immediately stop selling legal highs. The vote was split four-four and then lost on the mayor's casting vote.
Ms Main said while she appreciated the motives behind the motion she believed it was likely to have no impact.
Mrs Baker-Hogan's second motion asked for Safer Wanganui to seek immediate support from the Whanganui District Health Board and other agencies to ensure systems were in place for legal high users wanting support for withdrawal symptoms.
Councillor Jenny Duncan supported the sentiment of the motion but said those organisations would be well aware of the problem and "what they'll be confronting".
Meantime, council is sticking with its deadline of August 31 to have its LAPP drafted.
The LAPP will give the council the ability to influence where retailing of psychoactive substances can take place and how far away from certain sites and each other those outlets can be. But it will not be able to ban the sale of legal highs or dictate trading hours of those outlets.