A researcher from Australia says that people around the world are watching to gauge the efficacy of New Zealand's regulation of synthetic recreational drugs.
The Psychoactive Substances Act came into effect earlier this year and places restrictions on the manufacturing and the sale of synthetic drugs.
A psychologist teaching about addiction drugs at Curtin University in Western Australia, Stephen Bright, has written a paper on synthetic recreational drugs and says it's exciting to see what New Zealand is doing.
He told Radio New Zealand's Nine to Noon programme it seems like a step in the right direction to preventing the merry-go-round of banning new drugs only to have new ones enter the market.
"Some of my research is showing that banning individual chemicals such as New Zealand was doing a few years ago ... makes the situation worse," he says.
"Internationally, the eyes are on New Zealand at the moment.
"I think most people would really like to see this work, because that it would provide a good rationale for other countries to try this alternative approach".
Mr Bright says contrary to popular belief, studies in Australia show the average age of users of synthetic drugs is 27.
