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While the United States is dipping a toe into drug legalization with medical marijuana and, in a few states, recreational marijuana, our efforts in New Zealand to deal with drugs outside the criminal system are going in another direction.
Given our remote geographic location, smuggling is risky, rare and expensive. Most of the drugs New Zealanders use are produced locally. Lately, new synthetic drugs that mimic the effects of harder-to-acquire drugs are gaining traction.
According to the Drug Policy Alliance, synthetic drugs are becoming increasingly prevalent in the U.S. as well. A recent University of Michigan survey found that the use of synthetic drugs among high school students is now second only to marijuana. A string of recent deaths from synthetic "club drug" overdoses in the U.S. has caught the attention of both federal law makers and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
New Zealand has yet to face those kind of deaths, but we are seeing harm caused by new psychoactive substances, more commonly known here as "legal highs" or "party pills." These untested and unregulated substances are difficult to monitor, and often no one, not even the (often amateur) manufacturer, knows what's really in them.
Users buy a small bag of non-descript white powder or plant material, believing it is one thing but it can be any number of endless derivatives of that drug or even something completely different.
All of this is exacerbated by the fact that once one synthetic drug is made illegal, the chemistry can be altered ever so slightly to produce a new substance that now falls in a gray area of law because it hadn't existed before. Consequently, law enforcement is often baffled about what is what and medical professionals have no idea how harmful the effects might be, especially in the long term.
With reports about increased visits by young people to emergency rooms due to the new psychoactive substances, we in New Zealand were frustrated by our inability to effectively monitor the effects of these drugs or hold anyone accountable for the harm they were causing.
This year, our parliament almost unanimously passed rules allowing domestic producers of synthetic drugs to submit to health and safety testing, much like traditional pharmaceutical trials. If the drugs pass rigorous examination and are deemed "low risk," manufacturers will be allowed to sell them legally under tough regulations, such as no advertising or sale to minors.
The new law forces drug producers into the light of day and makes them responsible for safety.
It will subject these substances to a similar kind of testing that new medicines have to go through. Now, when people choose to take a legal drug, they will know exactly what it contains and have assurance of the drugs effects and risk.
Some of this might seem counterintuitive, but it is backed by evidence. The old policies were clearly not working. Our new drug policy emerged from a pragmatic and evidence-based approach to do what was needed to ensure safety. Fortunately, we were largely spared a debate about moral judgment, drug use or partisan politics. It is heartening to see that this kind of positive change can happen.
News Hawk- Truth Seeker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: dailyrecord.com
Author: Ross Bell
Given our remote geographic location, smuggling is risky, rare and expensive. Most of the drugs New Zealanders use are produced locally. Lately, new synthetic drugs that mimic the effects of harder-to-acquire drugs are gaining traction.
According to the Drug Policy Alliance, synthetic drugs are becoming increasingly prevalent in the U.S. as well. A recent University of Michigan survey found that the use of synthetic drugs among high school students is now second only to marijuana. A string of recent deaths from synthetic "club drug" overdoses in the U.S. has caught the attention of both federal law makers and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
New Zealand has yet to face those kind of deaths, but we are seeing harm caused by new psychoactive substances, more commonly known here as "legal highs" or "party pills." These untested and unregulated substances are difficult to monitor, and often no one, not even the (often amateur) manufacturer, knows what's really in them.
Users buy a small bag of non-descript white powder or plant material, believing it is one thing but it can be any number of endless derivatives of that drug or even something completely different.
All of this is exacerbated by the fact that once one synthetic drug is made illegal, the chemistry can be altered ever so slightly to produce a new substance that now falls in a gray area of law because it hadn't existed before. Consequently, law enforcement is often baffled about what is what and medical professionals have no idea how harmful the effects might be, especially in the long term.
With reports about increased visits by young people to emergency rooms due to the new psychoactive substances, we in New Zealand were frustrated by our inability to effectively monitor the effects of these drugs or hold anyone accountable for the harm they were causing.
This year, our parliament almost unanimously passed rules allowing domestic producers of synthetic drugs to submit to health and safety testing, much like traditional pharmaceutical trials. If the drugs pass rigorous examination and are deemed "low risk," manufacturers will be allowed to sell them legally under tough regulations, such as no advertising or sale to minors.
The new law forces drug producers into the light of day and makes them responsible for safety.
It will subject these substances to a similar kind of testing that new medicines have to go through. Now, when people choose to take a legal drug, they will know exactly what it contains and have assurance of the drugs effects and risk.
Some of this might seem counterintuitive, but it is backed by evidence. The old policies were clearly not working. Our new drug policy emerged from a pragmatic and evidence-based approach to do what was needed to ensure safety. Fortunately, we were largely spared a debate about moral judgment, drug use or partisan politics. It is heartening to see that this kind of positive change can happen.
News Hawk- Truth Seeker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: dailyrecord.com
Author: Ross Bell
