Harrowing tales reveal grim truth

Wanganui District Council PHOTO/FILE

It didn't take a litany of submissions to the Wanganui council-proposed local approved products policy (LAPP) to get to the nub of the issue.

These policies are being considered by local authorities around the country and most have soldiered on, even if legal challenges have been lodged against them. No Wanganui councillor could have failed to be moved as they listened to the stories some submitters told the hearing this week.

This debate is about creating some control on the sale and purchase of legal highs, and the stories they heard were harrowing. There was the father brought to tears explaining the destruction and hurt wrought on his family when his 14-year-old son tried these drugs.

A woman spoke of her 40-year-old daughter who got hooked on legal highs. She left her husband, had her children taken off her and was diagnosed with drug-induced psychosis. Her daughter was now abusive, cruel and unremorseful.

Giving legal highs the more pedantic title of psychoactive substances simply blurs the lines of the venom within these chemical concoctions about which very little is known.

Now the council is on the cusp of enshrining its own policy in an attempt to at least inhibit the sale of these substances. The policy will restrict the sale of legal highs by confining retailers to the central business district - but not Victoria Ave - and not within 50 metres of sensitive sites. It will also control the time these substances can be sold.

Health experts told councillors that long-term health risks of legal highs were unknown but anecdotally they showed up in physical, emotional and social harm.

Bottom line? This is about some people making and selling substances that bring nothing but grief. That local authorities have to go down this path is nonsensical. More directly, the fact central government endorses this evil by looking to allow its sale is unpardonable.