The Government is to ban synthetic cannabis products from Friday.
Associate Minister of Health, Peter Dunne says the Cabinet on Monday approved changes to the Misuse of Drugs Amendment Bill that will take more 43 synthetic cannabis products including Kronic off the market for the next 12 months.
Mr Dunn says the products are expected to be out of stores by the end of next week.
[image:2625:half:right]The minister says the temporary ban will allow the Government to work on a detailed response to a recent report by the Law Commission on the synthetic cannabis products.
Mr Dunne says the products are generally untested and the long-term effects of their use are not known. Any sale or use of the substances will now carry the same penalties as Class 1 controlled drugs.
The minister told Checkpoint that when he hears the industry say 500,000 New Zealanders have tried the synthetic products, it confirms to him the situation is getting out hand.
"The steps we're taking are really to get this stuff off the shelves to allow for proper testing to take place as to its impact.
"This is all a temporary regime while we work on the longer term solution, which is what the Law Commission recommended a few months ago, which is going to take a little bit of time to put in place."
Mr Dunne says even if suppliers formulate a new product, he will be able to issue a gazette notice and get it off the market within seven days.
But an importer of synthetic cannabis says the Government's decision is a knee-jerk reaction in an election year. Matt Bowden says he has repeatedly advised the Government to regulate the sale of the product.
"The advice the minister was given previously in the years leading up to this was to put tight regulations around the products.
"The question is, why was that advice ignored? Why were tight regulations not put around the products in the interim; why have we waited until election time to suddenly use a ban instead?"
Mr Bowden hopes planned testing of synthetic cannabis results in the products having safer dosages of their active ingredients.
